Northrop Grumman announced its first foray into the tactical, long endurance UAV market forming an alliance with Aurora Flight Sciences and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI)
The alliance, announced on the opening day of the show, will allow the partners to rapidly develop affordable UAV systems for a broader, more diverse set of military and civilian missions and addresses what it sees as "growing worldwide demand for UAV systems".
Under the agreement, Aurora will produce IAI-developed tactical, long endurance UAVs in the U.S. for Northrop Grumman.
As prime contractor, Northrop Grumman will equip the UAVs with mission-specific subsystems and integrate them into system architectures that can support evolving U.S. government surveillance, battle management, and command and control requirements.
Legacy
The company will also insert new technologies, as appropriate, to meet mission requirements, and provide all required logistic support.
Speaking at the show Scott Seymour, president of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector says: "Northrop Grumman, Israel Aircraft Industries and Aurora Flight Sciences share a legacy of leadership and innovation in the UAV industry. Our combined talents and technologies will enable new UAV systems solutions that will challenge the industry's status quo. Our collaboration will spark competition and new ideas that will lead to new, more cost effective and more technologically advanced systems for the men and women of the armed services who daily risk their lives supporting the global war on terrorism."
Leverage
John Langford president and founder of Virginia-based Aurora Flight Services adds: "We have spent 15 years developing and producing critical UAV structures for significant U.S. military and civil UAV programmes including Global Hawk.
"We will leverage our experience, people and technology in this new business arrangement to help Northrop Grumman produce and deliver cost-effective new UAV solutions to U.S. markets."
Source: Flight Daily News
