Northrop Grumman Opens New Facility for Ministry of Defence Gyrocompass Technical Support in New Malden, U.K.

Northrop Grumman Opens New Facility for Ministry of Defence Gyrocompass Technical Support in New Malden, U.K.

LONDON, June 1, 2009 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) today officially opened its new U.K. technical support centre to provide service, repair and maintenance for the company's inertial navigation systems (INS) used in Royal Navy ships and submarines.
The new naval gyrocompass support centre, located at Northrop Grumman's Sperry Marine facility in New Malden, U.K., contains a full repair and calibration workshop to support NATO ship INS (SINS) installed on Royal Navy surface warships and attack submarines. Sperry Marine is under contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide ongoing in-service support for these systems.

The event was attended by Northrop Grumman executives, as well as MoD officials and local political leaders. They received a tour of the facility as well as briefings on and demonstrations of its capabilities.
"This new facility will significantly enhance Northrop Grumman's U.K.-based technical capabilities and marks a major milestone in our continuing programme of improving the support we provide to our MoD customers," said Sir Nigel Essenhigh, chairman of Northrop Grumman U.K. "The gyro support centre in New Malden will enable us to provide faster turnaround times and more responsive service support for these important mission-critical shipboard components."

"The new workshop will enable our U.K. employees to perform repairs and re-calibration services for the sophisticated inertial measurement units, which are at the heart of these military shipboard systems," said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine. "Today's opening represents the culmination of many months of work to install the workshop facilities and establish the security systems required by the U.K. MoD."
Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine's offices in New Malden are responsible for a number of major MoD programmes, including the integrated platform management systems being fitted on the Type 45 destroyers and the new Astute-class submarines, as well as the integrated navigation and bridge system being developed for the next generation of Royal Navy aircraft carriers. In addition, the New Malden facility is Sperry Marine's primary centre of excellence for navigation radar and electronic charting technology for commercial marine and international defence markets.


"The gyro support centre is part of a major investment we are making in our New Malden facility," said Dhanvant Goradia, director of Sperry Marine's New Malden business unit. "We are currently nearing the completion of a large-scale modernisation programme for our Burlington House office, which will make the building more attractive and energy efficient as we continue to play an important role in the local economy as a major employer."
Based on Sperry Marine's proprietary ring-laser gyro technology, the SINS devices provide extremely precise 3-D position and attitude reference data for the vessels' navigation and weapons systems. Sperry Marine is a world leader in ring-laser gyro inertial navigation technology, having supplied the vast majority of SINS shipboard devices currently deployed with NATO and international naval forces around the world.
Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and with major engineering and support offices in New Malden, United Kingdom and Hamburg, Germany, provides smart navigation and ship control solutions for the international marine industry with customer service and support through offices in 16 countries, sales representatives in 47 countries and authorized service depots in more than 250 locations worldwide.
Northrop Grumman in the U.K. operates from primary locations in London, Fareham, Chester, Coventry, New Malden, Peterborough, RAF Waddington and Solihull and provides avionics, communications, electronic warfare systems, marine navigation systems, robotics, C4ISR solutions and mission planning, IT systems and software development, aircraft maintenance and airport security solutions.

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.


CONTACT: Ken Beedle Northrop Grumman Corporation (London) +44 207 747 1910 +44 7787 174092 ken.beedle@euro.ngc.com
Tom Delaney Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems +1 (410) 993-6454 thomas.delaney@ngc.comResearch defense stocks with the global defense stocks directory at Investorideas.com
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