Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems was created by Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group in 1996. The Electronic Systems sector is a leading designer, developer, and manufacturer of a wide variety of advanced defense electronics and systems. The division has 120 locations worldwide, including 72 international offices, and approximately 24,000 employees. Accounting for 20% of company sales in 2005^[1], it is single largest sector (business unit) in the Corporation.

1 Organization
2 History
- 2.1 Expansion within Northrop Grumman
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Organization

Headquartered in Linthicum, Maryland, (near Baltimore), Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems is organised thus:

Aerospace Systems
Naval & Marine Systems
Defensive Systems
Navigation Systems
Government Systems

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems provides airborne radar systems, secondary surveillance systems, inertial navigation systems and sensors, electronic warfare systems, precision weapons, air traffic control systems, air defense systems, communications systems, space systems, marine systems, naval systems, integrated avionics systems, and automation and information systems.

Key products include fire control radars for the F-16, F-22 and F-35 fighter aircraft, as well as the Longbow for the AH-64 Apache helicopter. Other principal products include the AWACS radar, the Boeing 737-based Wedgetail airborne early warning and control system, Joint STARS air-to-ground surveillance radar sensor, the AGM-114 Hellfire missile, the ALQ-135 radar jammer for the F-15 Eagle, tactical military radars, countrywide air defense systems, airborne electronic countermeasures systems, sophisticated undersea warfare systems, and naval propulsion and power generation systems.

[edit] History

Electronic Systems' direct roots date to 1938, when Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Radio Division moved to Baltimore, Maryland from Massachusetts and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1939, Westinghouse more than doubled its manufacturing area in its Baltimore location to accommodate production of the then highly-secret SCR-270 aircraft warning radar. In 1941, an SCR-270 radar detected the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor; its warnings went unheeded because of high-level uncertainty about the new technology's reliability. The first ground-based radar built for the Army Signal Corps, the SCR-270 proves to be the only model to stay in action throughout all of World War II. From 1941 - 1945 the Westinghouse Radio Division manufactured approximately 50 products during the war. Until 1942, most of this was radio equipment; later production shifted to radar products. Wartime production included ground-based and naval radio and radar, electronic fuses, and torpedoes. In 1953, the unit patented key technologies for pulse doppler radar, making possible airborne systems that can detect both stationary and moving targets, determine range, and distinguish targets from background "clutter." Pulse Doppler is the basis for all airborne radars in use today. By 1966, the division designed and developed a miniaturized black-and-white camera that captured images from the Project Apollo Lunar Module that landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. In 1967, The world's first solid-state radar, the AN/APQ-120 for the F-4 Phantom II figher, was produced by the division. In 1974, the division began development of the AN/APG-66 radar for the F-16; to date the unit has produced over 6,000 radars for various versions of the F-16. In 1976, Westinghouse Electronic Systems delivered the first E-3 Sentry AWACS long-range airborne surveillance radar. In 1996, Westinghouse was selected to design, build and test the radar for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

[edit] Expansion within Northrop Grumman

Electronic Systems has been central to Northrop Grumman's aggressive merger and acquisition strategy since its own acquisition in 1996. Parts or all of the following companies or organizations are now part of the sector: Westinghouse Electronic Systems, California Microwave, Navia, Litton Industries Advanced Electronics division, Solystic SA, Aerojet Corporation Electronics & Information Systems, and Fibersense Technology Corp. During the period from 1996 to 2005, Electronic Systems' annual sales increased from USD $2.3B to USD $6.6B through organic growth as well as acquisitions.