DEFINING THE FUTURE IN ELECTRONICS
By Julian Nettlefold
BATTLESPACE visits Northrop Grumman’s Baltimore Electronic Systems facility
10 Oct 08. Having visited the Northrop Grumman Rancho Bernardo, California facility in May, BATTLESPACE took the opportunity to visit the Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems sector facility in Baltimore after the AUSA Exhibition in Washington DC. BATTLESPACE is no stranger to electronics facilities but the sheer size and depth of the Northrop Baltimore facility can only be understood during a visit. The Baltimore facility forms part of the huge $7 billion Electronics business of Northrop Grumman, one of four business areas as described on the Northrop web site.
Information & Services
Northrop Grumman puts information to work. As a trusted partner, the company develops systems and solutions that deliver timely, enabling information where it is needed most for its military, intelligence, federal, state and local government, and commercial customers
Electronics
Northrop Grumman’s electronic solutions span the spectrum. The company is a leading developer, manufacturer, integrator and supporter of a variety of advanced electronic and maritime systems for U.S. and international customers for national security and non-defense applications.
Aerospace
Northrop Grumman’s aerospace systems operate from the high ground. The company is a premier developer, integrator, producer and supporter of manned and unmanned aircraft, spacecraft, high-energy laser systems, microelectronics and other systems and subsystems critical to maintaining the nation’s security and leadership in science and technology.
Shipbuilding
Ships built by Northrop Grumman project power worldwide. The company is the nation’s sole industrial designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of only two companies that design and build nuclear-powered submarines. The business is also one of the nation’s leading providers and life-cycle supporters of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, international navies and commercial vessels.
Put in context the turnover of the Electronics business, $7 billion is equivalent to the turnover of the whole of Thales. The Division has 20,700 employees in 22 facilities. The Baltimore engineering and manufacturing facility, which has its roots in the Westinghouse Corporation, spans two huge sites of 130 acres each. It even has its own taxiway direct into the BWI Thurgood Marshall airport complex.
“It was in 1996 that Northrop Grumman bought Westinghouse’s defense electronics business as it sought to diversify into electronics in particular. Northrop Grumman made other acquisitions in this area over the years and put them into the Electronics business.” Jack Martin, Jr, Director Public Relations, of Northrop Grumman’s Baltimore facility told BATTLESPACE.
Northrop Grumman’s electronic solutions span the spectrum. The company is a leading developer, manufacturer, integrator and supporter of a variety of advanced electronic and maritime systems for U.S. and international customers for national security and non-defense applications.
Systems include high performance sensors and intelligence processing and navigation systems operating in all environments from undersea to outer space. Applications include airborne surveillance, space sensing, biochemical detection, intelligence fusing and analysis, aircraft fire control, precision weapon engagement, electronic countermeasures, inertial navigation, air and missile defense, air traffic control, ship bridge control, communications and mail processing. Maritime systems include propulsion and power-generation systems for ships and submarines, control systems, shipboard launch systems and unmanned semi-autonomous systems.
It is worth examining the Westinghouse heritage to find the huge depth of technology and expertise residing at Northrop.
Westinghouse built the first airborne radar in 1940 and this