ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 20, 2013 -- Visitors to Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) exhibit this week at the Air Force Association's (AFA's) Air Warfare Symposium will get a fresh, interactive glimpse of how future wars could be fought.
The company will be featuring a mission concept called "family of systems" (FoS) on several large touch-screen displays. Representatives will be on hand to demonstrate how the FoS approach can help reduce costs and make missions more effective. The interactive display in booth No. 403 will guide visitors through mission scenarios ranging from natural disaster relief or a counterinsurgency to operations in the most sophisticated enemy threat environments.
Northrop Grumman's exhibit will also feature the company's expertise in military logistics and training, including ReadyBlueâ˘, its mobile flight line management application. A complete look at the company's AFA-related media activities is available at www.northropgrumman.com/afa .
FoS was conceived by the U.S. Air Force and the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank as a way to reduce the complexity and costs of future weapons systems. Instead of putting all of the sensors, weapons and equipment required for a given mission on a single advanced platform, it spreads capabilities and equipment among multiple, less complex platforms. Working together, this family of platforms creates a battlefield effect greater than any one platform can provide.
"A 'family of systems' approach allows the Air Force to buy and build advanced weapon systems more affordably," said Paul Meyer, sector vice president and general manager, advanced development programs, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "It also produces more reliable mission outcomes because no one platform becomes a single point of failure."
Northrop Grumman is helping build customer confidence in the FoS approach though program performance, innovation and a relentless focus on affordability, Meyer added.
"Our pledge to warfighters is to meet cost and schedule commitments on every program; to make smart use of technology to increase system performance and reliability, and to ensure, through intelligent, cradle-to-grave logistics, that they remain ready to perform their mission at all times," he said.
The FoS presented in Northrop Grumman's display includes seven major elements:
- Information, surveillance and reconnaissance: Airborne, surface and spaceborne platforms that use sensors to collect and disseminate data.
- Communications: Line-of-sight or beyond-line-of-sight systems that enable information sharing across the battlespace.
- Battle management command and control: Systems that convert raw data to knowledge and use that knowledge to direct battlefield activities.
- Electronic attack and cyber: Systems that produce desired effects through electronic means (jamming, etc.).
- Long-range strike: Weapon systems that include conventional stand-off bombers and stealthier, longer-range bombers that can penetrate deeply into enemy territory and deliver large amounts of precision weapons.
- Weapons: Long-range weapons that extend the effective range of delivery platforms, thereby protecting them against lethal defensive threats.
- Air power practitioner:Coordinates and helps synchronize the operations of the other six FoS components.
Operating alone or in concert, FoS elements can be used to conduct missions that protect U.S. forces, project power against an enemy or meet national security requirements.
"Northrop Grumman has prime contractor roles in all aspects of the family of systems, and the logistics that support it," said Meyer. "From platforms and sensors to proven command and control technologies to unmatched systems engineering skills, we're ready to help the Air Force develop, deploy, sustain and modernize affordable systems that will keep our nation secure."
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company that provides innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber security, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
CONTACT: Brooks McKinney, APR
310-331-6610 (office)
310-864-3785 (mobile)
brooks.mckinney@ngc.com