A still from a Northrop Grumman advertisement. Northrop Grumman Image
PENTAGON — The U.S. Air Force has selected Northrop Grumman to build the service’s planned Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) beating a combined Boeing and Lockheed Martin team, officials said in a long awaited announcement. Read More
The following is the Aug. 3, 2015 Congressional Research Service report, History of the Navy UCLASS Program Requirements: In Brief. Read More
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) guided-missile defense destroyer JDS Atago (DDG-177) maneuvers with other JMDSF and U.S. Navy ships belonging to the USS George Washington carrier strike group in 2011. US Navy Photo
Changes in Japan’s defense posture, pending aircraft buys from the U.S. and planned combat system modification to Japanese ships will give the Japanese Self Defense Force (JSDF) the practical and political ability to fight as a part of the U.S. Navy’s new networked carrier strike group concept — which would expand the lethal power and range of both forces, USNI News has learned. Read More
Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed its first flight May 22, 2013, from the company’s manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif. Northrop Grumman Photo
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) announced it will begin negotiations on a second low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle. Read More
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft conduct a test flight in 2009. US Navy Photo
Congress was notified of a potential sale of four Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes and supporting equipment to Japan, State Department officials told USNI News on Tuesday. Read More
X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said he would like to see the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program move forward soon, and he’d like to continue testing the X-47B Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program in the mean time without giving an advantage to builder Northrop Grumman. Read More
Northrop Grumman X-47B Salty Dog 502 during carrier tests in 2014. US Naval Institute Photo
The Senate Armed Services Committee — concerned with the Navy’s direction for its planned unmanned carrier aircraft program — wants the Pentagon to oversee development of two new carrier capable prototype unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and restart testing of the service’s two Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) in a combined $725 million effort, according to a summary of the SASC’s markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 defense authorization bill released Thursday evening. Read More
A Northrop Grumman X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) during a 2014 carrier landing test. US Naval Institute Photo
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) wants to keep the Navy’s two X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrators (UCAS-D) flying instead of sending the two unmanned vehicles to a museum or long term storage, according to a Thursday letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus obtained by USNI News. Read More
Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG-88) underway on April 18, 2015. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee added $120 million to pay for a total of three Aegis combat system upgrades to the Navy’s Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers (DDG-51) as part of the chairman’s mark for the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. Read More
X-47B taking on fuel from a tanker on April 22, 2015. US Navy Photo
The Navy successfully tested autonomous aerial refueling for the first time with its Northrop Grumman X-47B test unmanned aerial vehicle on Wednesday, marking the end of the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier Air Vehicle demonstrator (UCAS-D) program, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) told USNI News shortly after the aircraft landed at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Read More
