Northrop Grumman Awarded Contract to Produce RQ-4B Global Hawks

Source URL: http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.mhtml?d=89258
Posted at: http://www.air-attack/com/news/news_article/757

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 7, 2005 -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a contract to begin production of the next five RQ-4B Global Hawk aerial reconnaissance systems.

The new $60 million contract will allow the company to start purchasing long-lead parts for the unmanned air vehicles, the enhanced integrated sensor suites for four of the air vehicles, one mission-control element, and one launch-and-recovery element. Production of the hardware for these five new RQ-4B air vehicles is expected to begin late this year, with assembly starting next year.

"This contract demonstrates the commitment and continued confidence that the Air Force has in Global Hawk's capabilities and operational performance, and the need for this unique intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system," said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman's Air Force Global Hawk program manager. "These vehicles will be the first operational Global Hawks with full multi-intelligence capabilities, including signals intelligence."

Northrop Grumman is currently producing five RQ-4B Global Hawks at its manufacturing facility in Palmdale, Calif., as part of several previous limited-production contracts.

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