Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Northrop Grumman-Led Team Demonstrates Means to Effectively Enhance Littoral Warfighting Capabilities

Northrop Grumman-Led Team Demonstrates Means to Effectively Enhance Littoral Warfighting Capabilities
August 18, 2009

BALTIMORE – A Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC)-led team has successfully demonstrated the integration of the AN/SPQ-9B radar and Naval Expeditionary Overwatch (NEO) system sensor data into the Integrated Combat Management System (ICMS) at the Navy's Center for Surface Combat Systems (CSCS) at Dam Neck, Va.

The team included Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren
and Harris Corporation. NEO is sponsored by the Office of Naval
Research (ONR).

The demonstration illustrated the open architecture
capabilities of ICMS to rapidly and affordably integrate both shipboard
and off-board sensor data into a combat system network to support
enhanced Fleet combat operations. The ICMS product build that is
currently in use aboard the Littoral Combat Ship Independence (LCS-2)
was reused to affordably integrate these enhanced capabilities.
Real-time air and surface operations were used to demonstrate ICMS
integration and control, and the value of the ICMS open architecture
design to the Navy.

The demonstration also showed that ICMS can control the
operation of the radar and its various modes of operation and
interoperability with other sensors, simulating Mission Module Package
ISR data integration. The AN/SPQ-9B also demonstrated its new 3D Volume
Air Search modes for the first time to the Navy.

Beyond line-of-sight contacts acquired by the NEO system were
passed to ICMS through a communications relay platform using the
RT-1944/U SeaLancet communications system. ICMS demonstrated its combat
system capability to provide real-time situational awareness, and
command-and-control processing including track management, correlation,
identification and threat designation.

"The demonstration shows new capabilities for rapidly
countering evolving and challenging threats in the littoral
environment," said John DeMaso, vice president and general manager of
Northrop Grumman's Naval and Marine Systems Division. "The scalable
ICMS integrates enhanced organic and off-board, over-the-horizon
sensing to extend the defensive perimeter of platforms, providing early
warning of threats. Through its fully implemented, open architecture
design, ICMS can provide this capability today at an affordable price."

Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector produces the ICMS
at Baltimore and the AN/SPQ-9B at Melville, N.Y. RT-1944/U SeaLancet is
produced by Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Fla. The participating NEO
Execution Team included NSWC, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Space
and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), the Naval Research
Laboratory, the NECC (Naval Expeditionary Combat Command) and OPTEVFOR
(Operational Test and Evaluation Force) Operations Team, INSITU Inc.,
Northrop Grumman, and the Accurate Automation Corp. CSCS is located at
NSWC's Dam Neck facility.

The demonstration was attended by U.S. government and military
representatives.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security
company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products,
and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems,
shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial
customers worldwide.

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