Making the Army Stronger: Northrop Grumman Showcases Multi-Mission Solutions at AUSA

WASHINGTON – Oct. 8, 2018 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) will highlight a full range of solutions for the missions of the U.S. Army at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition, Oct. 8-10 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.

Northrop Grumman delivers the Integrated Avionics Suite for the UH-60V helicopter, which is designed to update existing UH-60L analog gauges with digital electronic instrument displays.

Northrop Grumman’s AUSA exhibit (booth #825) will highlight technologies, products and services designed to give the U.S. Army a decisive advantage in multi-domain operations.

Northrop Grumman provides combat capabilities in avionics, integrated air and missile defense, cyber security, training and multifunction mission systems. These solutions enable command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) dominance, while expanding mission capabilities and creating leading solutions for today’s Army force.

The company’s booth will feature digital helicopter cockpit and integrated avionics solutions derived from the U.S. Army’s Northrop Grumman UH-60V Black Hawk program. The open-architecture digital cockpit offers an affordable, safe, secure and integrated suite of avionics equipment.

Versions of the UH-60V’s modular architecture can be applied to many platforms and sustained through a single software package. Northrop Grumman’s avionics products capitalize on the company’s leadership and history in weapons and sensor integration, including development of the first airborne fire control computer nearly 50 years ago.

The booth will also feature the mixed reality training simulation. Designed to provide advanced and adaptive training capabilities, the simulation enables warfighters to train, test, predict and analyze more efficiently and affordably in every warfighting domain. These modernized, integrated and realistic training simulations reduce the warfighters’ readiness challenge, enabling them to decide and act faster than their adversaries.

The company is highlighting the cornerstone of the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) modernization program, the IAMD Battle Command System (IBCS). IBCS is a revolutionary command-and-control system developed to deliver a single, unambiguous view of the battlespace at scale, as demonstrated during recent multi-node distributedand live air tests.

IBCS significantly enhances aircraft and missile tracking while improving the ability of combatant commanders and air defenders to make critical decisions within seconds. With a modular open systems architecture, IBCS allows integration of current and future sensors and weapons. IBCS enables “any sensor, best shooter” operations, optimizing limited resources and facilitating flexible defense designs.

Northrop Grumman will also provide updates on the company’s short range air defense (SHORAD) capabilities to protect the U.S. and allied forces from a wide range of manned and unmanned air and missile threats. Our SHORAD capabilities utilize sensors, weapons and command control to acquire, track, verify, engage and defeat incoming threats.

Northrop Grumman’s recently acquired ammunition products and precision weapons will be shown in booth 7841 highlighting combat capabilities that include a full range of small-, medium-, and large-caliber ammunition as well as its Bushmaster® Chain Guns®, which are integrated into the U.S. Army’s Apache Attack Helicopters, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and recently have upgraded the Second Cavalry Regiment’s Stryker fleet with the XM813, 30mm cannon.

Precision weapons in display include the Precision Guidance Kit for 155mm artillery and the Hatchet, a precision glide weapon being development to arm a range of unmanned aerial systems, rotary and fixed wing aircraft.

Northrop Grumman will demonstrate its ability to provide advanced soldier protection capabilities with its Counter-Small Unmanned Systems offering that incorporates both an electronic and kinetic attack capability to defeat malicious drones. Its advanced barrier systems provide a smart, networked capability to protect deployed assets and shape the battlefield.

Royal Jordanian Air Force Helicopters Upgraded by Science and Engineering Services, LLC and Northrop Grumman Begin Flight Testing

Northrop Grumman’s avionics upgrade extends the aircraft’s life and mission capabilities

June 07, 2018

As the average age of aircraft inventories rises, military services worldwide are increasingly embracing the cost-effective solution of modernizing existing platforms as an alternative to purchasing brand new aircraft.

Northrop Grumman and Science and Engineering Services (SES) LLC have significantly modified the Royal Jordanian Air Force AH-1F/S Cobra helicopter to extend its life by at least 20 years. (Photo courtesy of Science and Engineering Services)

A recent example of this trend is the upgrade of AH-1F/S Cobra attack helicopters used by the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The upgraded helicopter has entered flight testing in Huntsville, Alabama.

Northrop Grumman and Science and Engineering Services (SES) LLC have significantly modified the helicopter to extend its life by at least 20 years. The aircraft was rewired and reconditioned by SES to ensure its quality and integrity. Meanwhile, as the avionics systems integrator for the helicopters, Northrop Grumman is overseeing the design and incorporation of the avionics solution.

The aircraft avionics received a digital conversion via Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Mission Equipment package (iMEP), which includes a commercially available FlightPro™Gen III mission computer, a full suite of LCD multifunction displays, an embedded software digital map and navigation controls. Scalable and fully integrated, the iMEP is based upon a modular, open architecture that supports rapid integration of third-party hardware and software. This flexible approach counters obsolescence and simplifies mission growth now and far into the future. The iMEP is also adding new and improved weapons capabilities to the helicopter, including advanced missiles, rockets and a rotary cannon. 

“By providing a highly adaptable mission equipment package and critical integration support, we are reinvigorating older platforms with the capabilities of modern-day attack helicopters,” said Robert Fleming, vice president of programs, land & avionics C4ISR division, Northrop Grumman. “Because of our open-architecture approach to avionics solutions, the increases in capability that we are providing on this contract can be delivered to other customers around the world.” 

The first modified AH-1F aircraft have been shipped to Jordan for Weapons Testing and Final Acceptance by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

This program marks the first global customer to modernize the avionics equipment on the AH-1F/S helicopters since their production during the early 1980s. Northrop Grumman’s baseline configuration can be easily customized for other global customers and platforms through rapid software only updates, as an alternative to the lengthy traditional model of upgrading hardware. The mission equipment package cockpit features a flexible software package designed to be implemented across multiple platforms.

The mission equipment package’s integrated design and lightweight components offer a significant weight savings of nearly 300 pounds when compared with the current systems installed on the Jordanian AH-1F/S. (Photo courtesy of Science and Engineering Services)

Additionally, the mission equipment package’s integrated design and lightweight components offer a significant weight savings of nearly 300 pounds when compared with the current systems installed on the Jordanian AH-1F/S.

Northrop Grumman has a long history spanning more than 30 years of successful military integrated avionics program capabilities for aircraft, including the UH-60V, AH‑1Z, UH-1Y, SH-2G, SH-60, and E-2D.