quality is a team sport 10 - northrop grumman corporation · stss-demonstration satellites’...

Quality Is a Team Sport 10

The New Breed 12

The High-Q of STSS 30

SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER 2015

WHEN THE WORLD CALLED FOR

STSS-Demonstration satellites’ global view allows them to track ballistic missiles through all phases of flight—from launch through intercept.

CERTAINTY

© 2015 Northrop Grumman Corporation

Approved for Public Release14-MDA-7928 (29 July 14)

Art Lofton Sector Vice President, Global Mission ExcellenceNorthrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

MISSION EXCELLENCEPERSPECTIVES

5 PERSPECTIVES A View from Leadership

6 HEADLINES Northrop Grumman in the News

8 HERITAGE Milestones in Northrop Grumman History

10 COVER STORY Quality Is a Team Sport

12 INGENUITY IN ACTION Our Latest Innovative Solutions

14 ACROSS THE SECTOR

24 HOMEFRONT Community Outreach

26 COMMUNITY You Make A Difference

28 PERFORMANCE Products and Program Updates

CONTENTS

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COVER STORY“When you’re on a team, you rely on people to do their job ... Trust is inherent in the team.” — Art delaCruz, director, Strategic Planning, Global Strategy and Mission Solutions

What does mission excellence mean to you?

It’s a question we ask people around the sector all the time. From colleagues fresh out of school to executives with decades of experience, the answers are as unique as each individual:

“Mission excellence means doing the job right the first time.”

“Mission excellence means delivering on our promises.”

“Mission excellence is working together toward one goal.”

Each of these answers is right, because each of us defines and delivers excellence in our own way. We’ve found that the responses, as varied as the jobs we all do, have a common theme: Mission excellence means doing our absolute best, every day, regardless of our particular mission.

To me, mission excellence means building quality into the life cycle early on and delivering results through collaboration.

Collectively we know how important our customers are, we know the dangerous environments in which they operate, and we design and build our products to work for them as intended. So how can we do more to make a difference for them?

By making quality personal.

We are a huge organization doing very complicated things, but, in a culture of quality, each of us must stand for mission excellence every day. It’s as easy —and as challenging—as pausing for a moment and asking tough questions:

What’s the proper thing to do in this situation?

Does this drawing look right?

Is this a problem I should take to someone?

Quality is in each of us who make mission excellence a priority every single day. Every month, the My Quality Counts and Quality Superstar awards honor our especially engaged

INSIDE AEROSPACE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

colleagues who have asked these questions and then taken personal responsibility for excellence. And every October we hold quality symposiums around the company to celebrate mission excellence. I hope you’ll join us again for this year’s events in El Segundo, Palmdale and St. Augustine, in person or online.

What makes working at Northrop Grumman so special is that, every day, we have an opportunity to make a difference for our nation’s heroes and for global security. It’s an important mission that leads us to ask:

What does mission excellence mean to you?

Teammates at work and on the ice: Northrop Grumman Fighters (l-r) Mike Tierney, Art delaCruz and Adam Ugolnik.Cover photo by Alex Evers

HEADLINES

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San Diego State University’s Mechatronics RoboSub team won the 2015 International RoboSub competition and the $6,000 top prize.

Photo courtesy of the AUVSI Foundation

Northrop Grumman Sponsors Winning Team in RoboSub CompetitionEarlier this summer, 37 teams from around the world competed to become champion of the 18th Annual International RoboSub competition.

This competition, held in San Diego, is sponsored by the Asso-ciation for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and U.S. Office of Naval Research, and brings talented student teams together from across the globe who work their way through a number of underwater challenges.

Following several days of competitive tasks, scored by a panel of judges, the San Diego State’s Mechatronics RoboSub team, sponsored by Northrop Grumman, emerged as the winners earning the top prize of $6,000.

“These competitions generate excitement about science, technology, engineering and math careers, and a way to attract future talent,” said Janis Pamiljans, sector vice president and unmanned systems general manager. “Our ability to provide

August, will enable the company to produce a center fuselage in just over 10 months compared to the approximately 11 1/2 months needed currently. The production interval is the average number of work days between starts or completions of center fuselage.

“This increase in tempo on our F-35 Integrated Assembly Line is part of a coordinated, pre-planned effort by Northrop Grumman and its suppliers to help meet rising F-35 production requirements,” said Brian Chappel, vice president and F-35 program manager. “It also reflects our steady progress increasing the efficiency of the production line, and the size and skills of our workforce.”

— Brooks McKinney

Excelling in Mission ExcellenceFostering a culture of quality is essential for Northrop Grumman. Aerospace Systems has made significant strides in recognizing and rewarding those colleagues who best exemplify mission excellence.

The culture of quality movement is gaining traction and has become personal, with regular quality panel

discussions and special luncheons honoring award winners.

In July, we hosted the quarterly Culture of Quality panel discussion that took place in Palmdale, Calif. This discussion, moderated by Quality Engineer Araceli Ortiz, featured panelists: Art Lofton, sector vice president, Global Mission Excellence; Stuart Linsky, sector vice president, Engineering and Global Product Development; Andy Reynolds, vice president, Global Manufacturing, and Palmdale site manager; Javier Meza, F-35 aircraft structures mechanic and My Quality Counts Award winner; and Cynthia Bremerman, quality assurance specialist, DCMA.

A few weeks later, a luncheon celebrating this year’s West Coast winners of the My Quality Counts and Quality Superstar awards, was held at the Space Park S Café. Organizers are planning a similar East Coast event later this year.

“Quality is what we’re all about,” says Deb Andree, Quality director for Military Aircraft Systems. “It’s great to see the energy around keeping our commitment to our customers and our nation.”

— Tom Henson

Jones Takes the High RoadNorthrop Grumman’s Ethics High Road Award reinforces ethical behavior and recognizes employees who exemplify integrity and inspire others around them to do the right thing.

Janet Jones, International Trade Compliance Analyst for Aerospace Systems, did the right thing when she assisted a colleague who was experiencing a serious health issue while on business travel.

Because of her attentive actions, Jones received the engraved crystal award presented by Darryl Heath, sector ethics director, and Corey Moore, vice president, Global Supply Chain Programs, and Space Park site manager, at a recent leadership meeting, along with a letter from Wes Bush.

“Over the course of my career, I have never had the pleasure of working with someone who is so sincere and genuinely caring for other people as Janet is,” said a colleague. “Her compassion for others and true caring spirit make her an excellent recipient of this award.”

All active Northrop Grumman employees and teams are eligible for nomination for the High Road Ethics Award and may be submitted at any time to [email protected].

— Roz Bliss

ISR and other critical information across multiple environments, be it underwater, air or space, is due to our unique capabilities that ensure our systems are robust, secure and trusted.”

Daryl Davidson, director of the AUVSI Foundation, commended Northrop Grumman for its role in the RoboSub event. “Our long-standing partnership with Northrop Grumman allows us to hold this annual international educational opportunity and showcase the emerging talent in robotics from around the world.”

— Kaeleena Vardoulakis, Communications Intern

Production Rate Increases for F-35 Center FuselagesOn Aug. 11, Northrop Grumman began producing the center fuselage for BK-10—the 10th F-35B variant for the United Kingdom—with a shorter production interval (PI) that will shave almost a month and a half off the time needed to produce the fuselage.

The new three-day PI, down from the four-day interval that has been in effect since last

Northrop Grumman quality team performs final inspection of AF-97, the 200th F-35 center fuselage produced by the company at its Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence.

Inside Aerospace © 2015 Northrop Grumman Corporation

All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA

Sector Vice President, Communications Cynthia Curiel

Director, Enterprise Communications Cyndi Wegerbauer

Manager, Employee Communications Ann Akutagawa

Executive Editor Kathy Ford

Managing Editor Linda Javier

Creative Director Adam Ugolnik

Art Director Antoinette Bing Zaté

Advertising Coordinator Darrell Brock

Contributors Sarah Bishop, Roz Bliss, Chris Boyd,

John Bruner, Ann Carney, Mitch Chavarria, Tom Henson, Sally Koris, Michelle Meyer,

Brooks McKinney, Bonnie Poindexter, Alan Radecki, Christina Thompson,

Kaeleena Vardoulakis, AnnaMaria White

Editorial Board Jessica Burtness, Alex Evers, Steve Fisher,

Kathy Ford, Linda Javier, Sally Koris, Christina Thompson, Katherine Thompson,

Adam Ugolnik, Antoinette Bing Zaté

Corey Moore congratulates Janet Jones on receiving the Ethics High Road Award.

Photo by Robert M. Brown

Inside Aerospace magazine is published for employees by Aerospace Systems Communications. Archives are available on the intranet. Please contact Kathy Ford ([email protected]) for permission to reprint, excerpt material, request additional copies, or to provide story ideas.

All photography courtesy of Northrop Grumman unless otherwise indicated.


HERITAGE

GULFSTREAM:Grumman Legend Keeps AchievingNext year will mark the 50th anniversary of the first flight of a Gulfstream jet. And what an amazing half century it has been for this aircraft legend.

Its remarkable history began in the mid-1950s when Grumman experienced a downturn in defense orders. Seeing growth in the civilian aviation market, Grumman decided to develop one of the first aircraft to fill the emerging corporate aviation niche.

Its designers initially considered adapting the U.S. Navy’s C-1 Trader (the predecessor of the current Grumman C-2A Greyhound), but instead settled on a clean-sheet approach, which became the G-159 Grumman Gulfstream I—a fast, twin-turboprop corporate transport which took its maiden flight in August 1958.

With the arrival of the Jet Age, the design was reworked with a new wing that borrowed heavily from the airfoil design of the Grumman A-6 Intruder. It included two aft-

mounted Rolls Royce jet engines and became the twin-jet G-1159 Gulfstream II, or simply G-II. A phenomenal family of jets soon followed, which continue to set the benchmark today.

In the corporate jet world, the most notable competition at the time was the Learjet. However, the main advantage of the Gulfstream was its stand-up cabin, allowing passengers to comfortably move about. In contrast, the Learjet was like being in a sardine can. The first G-II flew its maiden flight

By Alan Radecki

on Oct. 2, 1966, and began the tradition of the Gulfstreams being identified as the pinnacle of high-end luxury executive transport. Soon, every rock star, basketball player and Fortune 500 executive had to have one, and over 250 were built.

With the transition from the G-I to the G-II, Grumman relocated its civilian aircraft manufacturing operation from Bethpage N.Y., to Savannah, Ga. In 1978, a year after the final G-II was delivered, Grumman sold the operation, including the preliminary design work for the follow-on G-III, to Allen Paulson, who renamed the company Gulfstream America.

They continued developing the original Grumman design, and the G-IV was the first business jet to feature a glass cockpit. In 1995, the G-V was the first ultra-long range corporate jet, and set a

number of distance and speed records. The type had become so refined, it was awarded the Robert J. Collier trophy in 1997.

Gulfstream would eventually be bought by General Dynamics, and today they continue to operate it as their Gulfstream Aerospace division. Two more Gulfstream iterations won Collier trophies: the G550 in 2004 and the G650 in 2014.

Besides serving as corporate and personal luxury aircraft, Gulfstreams have served all five branches of the military. A NASA G-II was used to train the Space Shuttle pilots, and was highly modified so that it could mimic the steep landing approach that the shuttles used.

Currently, two Gulfstreams are flown by Northrop Grumman. A G-II (serial number 80), which was

formerly owned by NASCAR great Jeff Gordon, was modified as a flight test laboratory. This was done initially to test the sensor components for the Navy’s Broad Area Maritime Surveillance and later, the MQ-4C Triton. The G-II continues in service as a testbed for a host of other programs.

Recently, Northrop Grumman acquired the prototype G-V, partner-ing with General Dynamics and Gulfstream Aerospace, to offer the Air Force a Gulfstream-based platform for the Joint STARS recapitalization program.

With an impressive legacy of innovation and prestige, it is clear that this revolutionary Grumman design will continue to evolve and set new standards throughout the aviation industry for years to come.

At daybreak in Palmdale, Calif., the prototype Gulfstream G-V, now configured as a testbed aircraft, is prepared for an important technology demonstration flight.

Photo by Alan Radecki

Teamwork: the process of working collaboratively with a group of people to achieve a common goal.

Art delaCruz is no stranger to teamwork. After spending more than 22 years as a naval officer— 17 of those years flying in F-14 and F/A-18 fighter jets as a weapons systems officer, delaCruz now works on the sector’s long-range strategic plan as Aerospace Systems Global Strategy and Mission Solutions director of Strategic Planning.

In his spare time, he plays in a recreational hockey league.

“To me, quality is a team sport,” he said, while lacing up his skates late

on a Sunday night before hitting the ice for the Northrop Grumman Fighters.

Team captain and James Webb Space Telescope program integration manager Mike Tierney chimed in: “Quality is everybody’s business, and that means we all have to back each other up.”

As a naval aviator, quality infiltrated every aspect of delaCruz’s life.

While the stakes are nowhere near as extreme outside of the cockpit, working effectively as a team is essential at work and even on the ice.

“When you’re on a team, you rely on people to do their job,” he said. “It’s the person who says ‘your jet is ready to go flying.’ It’s the person who signs off on the maintenance. It’s the person who checked the oil levels, and the person who put together the mission load. Trust is inherent in the team—my life depended on it.”

Art delaCruz works on the sector’s strategic plan and plays ice hockey

recreationally to find work-life balance.

Photos by Alex Evers

QUALITYIS A TEAM SPORT

Members of the Northrop Grumman Fighters, a recreational hockey team,

Mike Tierney (left), Art delaCruz (center) and Adam Ugolnik (right), demonstrate

what it means to back each other up and support the team.

By Christina Thompson

“Art plays center,” Tierney explained. “He has to skate hard to help the forwards get goals. And then he has to get back to help out the defense—basically his job is to help everybody.”

delaCruz added, “Supporting one another and helping your team-mates be better is what it’s all about.”

Teamwork encourages multi-disciplinary work where members cut across organizational divides. That type of camaraderie transfers to the workplace, making everyone more motivated and well-balanced.

Working on the sector’s long-range plan is a collaborative process. Input from every organization across the sector contributes to the plan, aligning everyone with a common purpose—the health of the business. “That type of motiva-tion and collaboration are inherent in a healthy culture,” said delaCruz.

The Fighters comprise players from inside and outside the company, across disciplines from programs to business to marketing. Fellow Fighters teammate and sector creative director Adam Ugolnik said, “We all rely on each other. Art backs you up when you struggle and vice versa. To me, that’s what being a team is all about.”

Working on a team also increases accountability. There’s an essential responsibility to show up for the team—even when working long hours to meet tight deadlines or when a hockey game is late on a Sunday night.

“You know your team is depending on you, so you make it priority to show up,” said Tierney. “We all try to support each other, share the burden and be there for each other.”

As delaCruz demonstrates, from the air to the conference room to

the ice, there is no compromise for teamwork and certainly not for quality. Whether traveling at Mach 2.5 in a fighter jet or shooting a hockey puck at 80 miles per hour, there’s no time to question the quality of an airplane or the strength of a hockey stick. Adrenaline rushes, training and instincts kick in, and you act, relying on your teammates to get their jobs done.


COVER STORY

INGENUITY

THE

NEW BREEDBy John Bruner

The innovators at Scaled Composites underscore how Northrop Grumman is transforming what it means to be an aerospace company.

Taking calculated risks is how they are able to achieve what many in the industry consider impossible.

“Scaled projects push cost, schedule and technology very, very hard,” said Seguin. “Typically, we won’t say yes to the program unless it’s kind of on the edge of what we can physically do. You have to make the assumption that you will come up with a solution that you’ve never seen before in order to make that cost and schedule. That’s the foundation of ingenuity we rely on.”

It takes a special team to excel in that environment. “You have to be passionate about this business because as soon as you solve one problem, there’s another challenge to tackle,” Mickey explained. “And so we’ve just made it our lifestyle to know that we are never done.”

The innovators at Scaled are not intimidated by a blank piece of paper. “Starting over” is standard practice. “Our motto is, ‘Question, never defend’,” says Mickey. “We’re not afraid to pursue a path and then quickly deviate to something else because it looks like a better solution.” That novel flexibility often results in new standards against which other aerospace industry achievements are measured.

The limitless potential evident at Scaled Composites can be found everywhere at Aerospace Systems, whether it is in the sprawling F-35 Integrated Assembly Line in Palmdale, Calif., a design lab in Melbourne, Fla., the Air Dominance Center in El Segundo, or a testbed in San Diego, Calif.

These aerospace trailblazers are pursuing perfection in the way they design, build and fly aircraft. Their “above and beyond” work ethic helps meet, and often exceed, our customers’ ever-evolving requirements. The reward for taking on these monumental projects is the opportunity to be part of some of the most awesome breakthroughs in aerospace.

“The fact that my ideas mean something—that a small decision I make will send ripples through the company—is the reason I’m here,” said Seguin. “That direct connection to the product gets me excited.”

The team at Scaled Composites, a Northrop Grumman strategic business unit, has an unrivaled passion for aerospace. When not designing, building and testing airplanes at work, they are working on their own, or building remote-control model aircraft at home. They even dream about airplanes.

“I came to Scaled because I wanted to design, build and test airplanes as often as I could,” said Elliot Seguin, a project engineer. “I have not been able to find a place on the planet where I can do airplanes more full time than here.”

The team works in a distant corner of the Mojave Desert in California where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier and the space shuttle landed regularly. That history reinforces the belief that anything is possible. The Scaled team has made its own impressive history by building aircraft like the GlobalFlyer, which Steve Fossett flew around the Earth faster than anyone else without refueling. And then there’s SpaceShipOne, the first commercial spacecraft to put a human in space.

Scaled embraced these challenges with a unique hands-on approach that continues today.

“We expect our engineers to be able to build almost anything they design,” said Kevin Mickey, president of Scaled Composites. “If you were to tour the shop, you would see many of our engineers are out on the floor working side-by-side with the technician, because you don’t solve problems sitting at your desk.”

The Proteus airplane in a hangar at Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif.

Photos by Alan Radecki

Kevin Mickey, president of Scaled Composites.


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ACROSS THE SECTOR

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For the last 13 years, aerospace and related companies in Southern California have joined together each summer for a friendly competition, appropriately named the Aerospace Summer Games.

For six of those years, Northrop Grumman has been the champion. This year, we were so close to adding our seventh win. The real victory was the unbeatable collaboration and off-the-charts fun.

On Aug. 15, more than 500 Northrop Grumman employees, family and friends converged at Dockweiler Beach in Playa Del Rey, Calif. This year’s games were the largest event led and executed by volunteers in the South Bay since the inception of the annual summer games in 2003.

The day’s competitions ranged from classics such as volleyball, relay races and tug-of-war to this year’s newest games—sand soccer and ultimate Frisbee. Activities also included a balloon toss, a watermelon-eating contest, dodgeball, executive golf and a human pyramid.

Northrop Grumman came in third place this year, right behind SpaceX in second place, and Boeing won the overall championship—each team separated by only one point. The competitiveness of each

participating company’s teams is increasing every year, as proven by the close scores. Northrop Grumman placed first in both volleyball and executive master’s golf, and among the top five in the relay race and sand soccer.

The full-day competition was fierce and each of the 22 participating companies gave it their all. It was a history-making number of competing companies this year, and with the largest number of participants, Northrop Grumman demonstrated the utmost in team dedication and support. Everyone from interns to vice presidents pulled together and poured on enthusiasm, skill and tenacity.

The Aerospace Summer Games are open to all employees from participating aerospace-related companies, and generally attract members of networking and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). One of Northrop Grumman’s ERGs, Connect1NG, led the overall planning and execution of this year’s games. The games provide a unique opportunity where

Aerospace Systems won first place in Executive Golf.

Photos by Rob Ralls

employees of all disciplines and levels from various companies compete toward a common goal.

“The Aerospace Summer Games was a great opportunity to partici-pate with co-workers, customers and competitors in a fun and positive environment,” said Dean Hilgenberg, director, manufacturing, engineering and tooling.

“It was the perfect setting to engage with others outside the workplace.”As the 2015 champions, Boeing will organize the 2016 Summer Games, but #TeamNorthropGrumman will be back in full force, determined to reclaim the trophy for a seventh year!

To help or participate on #TeamNorthropGrumman at next year’s games, contact [email protected].

Hundreds of competitors descended on Dockweiler Beach in Southern California for a battle to win the 2015 Aerospace Summer Games.GAMES BEG N!

LET THE

By Mitch Chavarria


ACROSS THE SECTOR

Three months into his new role heading Northrop Grumman’s largest functional organization, Stuart Linsky gives us the scoop on E&GPD’s culture for growth and performance.

IA: What do you mean by “culture for growth and performance”?

SL: In the past five years, our company has risen as the top performer in our industry. To leverage that, we need to grow, protect our missions and take on new ones. A “Systems Think” mindset is needed throughout the organization, along with first-pass success quality and accountability. We must continue to develop and deliver on the most creative solutions and affordability. When we fully embody this culture, we will capture new missions and deliver differentiated performance.

IA: As leader of the sector’s more than 10,000 engineers, how do you drive new initiatives across an organization of this size?

SL: Our leadership team is actively refining our vision and strategy. Some new initiatives will be started and some existing initiatives will be expanded. We have a clear path forward and a leadership team that is committed to making it happen. We have brilliant people across our organization and tremendous opportunities. Our challenge will be to provide clear communication of this strategic path so everyone pulls in the same direction. Our potential is greater than we’ve had in more than a decade and we are well positioned for growth capture.

IA: Your predecessor, Peggy Nelson, was very involved in helping women to advance their engineering careers, as well as advocating for STEM alliances between business, academia and government. What are your passions?

SL: Like Peggy, I believe we must have diverse thought to match the dynamic challenges the world presents. You can expect me to passionately drive for diversity and inclusion in both our technical and management career paths.

Like my fellow engineers, I too have great passion for innovative technologies, designs and methods. Having the honor to lead the team that’s literally creating the future of aerospace is absolutely thrilling to me.

I can only hope to leave a legacy as meaningful as Peggy’s.

IA: As the author of close to 30 U.S. patents, it sounds like your legacy is well underway. Can you tell us about your career path?

SL: I joined the company more than 30 years ago right out of school. The company helped me earn graduate degrees while I gained experience. I stayed technical as long as I could, then I tried management. The challenge was exciting. I found that I enjoyed leading technical teams to develop the world’s most advanced satellite systems. I became a program lead systems engineer, then a chief engineer, then program manager. When TRW merged with Northrop Grumman, I volunteered on teams

Pictured in front of E&GPD’s new themed mural created by photographer Brandon Balasbas, Stuart Linsky is leading the sector’s team, engineering game-changing solutions in a dynamic world.

Photo by Alex Evers

“What we do proves we are the best engineering

organization in the world.”– Stuart Linsky, sector vice president,

Engineering and Global Product Development (E&GPD)

formed to synergize and optimize the corporation.

I’m very fortunate to have had great mentors who helped guide my career progression. I cannot emphasize enough the value of sharing knowledge – it’s critical for business growth and employee development. At any level in one’s career there’s always an opportunity to pay it forward. It’s tremendously rewarding to assist young engineers in identifying their strengths and their preferred career paths. Seeing that spark never gets old.

IA: So what does the future of AS Engineering look like going forward?

SL: Our future is bright. The new programs that we’re competing for are well within our reach. There is so much new development work that our challenge will be growing our engineering ranks in a way that doesn’t allow balls to be dropped. Our opportunities in Aerospace Systems are what get me out of bed every morning. To operate in such a highly competitive marketplace and to have the potential for growth in so many areas really speaks to the caliber of our engineers.

IA: Work-life balance – any advice?

SL: Judgment. Know when you don’t need to push so hard and spend that time with your family and friends; and know when a sacrifice is in order. Your teammates have to know they can count on you when the chips are down; but in normal times, have a normal life. Above all, always act with the utmost integrity on or off the field; it reflects on you, your teammates and the company.By Bonnie Poindexter6

TALKING ENGINEERING:

QUESTIONS WITH STUART LINSKY

One example of drought-tolerant plants at Space Park in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Photo by Alex Evers

DROUGHT BUSTERS By Chris Boyd

Individuals also can have an impact on saving resources. Aerospace Systems Sustainability/greeNG Manager Lisa Chynoweth recom- mends the following two key steps:

/ Be aware of the water you’re using. Turn off water if you don’t need it or aren’t using it, e.g., don’t leave the water running while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes: turn it on only to rinse.

/ In your work area, identify steps to reduce water usage and bring them to greeNG’s attention by contacting [email protected].

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SAVE WATER?

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ACROSS THE SECTOR

INSIDE AEROSPACE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

so efforts there focus on employee use.

The Information Systems and Electronic Systems sectors are also taking steps to reduce California water use. According to Walter Gehlmann, greeNG lead for Information Systems, the sector’s Rancho Carmel (San Diego) site has drastically reduced landscaping irrigation, resulting in a 25 percent cut in water use. The sector has also deactivated an outdoor water display at its Sacramento facility.

Electronic Systems will com-plete water assessments at its major California campuses in Azusa, Sunnyvale and Woodland Hills by October, according to Mike Ensor, Electronic Systems greeNG lead.

“We are evaluating landscaping renovation opportunities where climate-appropriate plants and xeriscaping will be used,” Ensor said.

With many of Aerospace Systems’ most water-intensive operations located in the Golden State, from San Diego to Redondo Beach to Palmdale, water conservation is at the forefront of Northrop Grumman’s greeNG program.

The greeNG program repre-sents the company’s significant environmental commitment, with robust plans for reducing water use, greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste. The maturity of these programs enabled the company to react quickly when California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order to cut water usage across the state by 25 percent.

CEO Wes Bush connected with Aerospace Systems leadership just days after the order and, based on extensive analysis of our sites, determined to accelerate our investment plans and water reduction efforts. This led to Sector Vice President of Operations Tommy Tomlinson

60 percent, saving more than 5 million gallons each year. The large grassy area of Space Park has turned brown as a result. The sector is currently exploring the option of using reclaimed, or recycled, water for irrigation to meet stringent local water restrictions.

The Palmdale assessment identified the site’s evaporative cooling units used to cool down the buildings as a major water user. Conservation efforts will focus on upgrading the units to achieve a 49-million-gallon-per-year water reduction. Though Palmdale relies on well water—such locations are excluded from the governor’s mandate—company officials want to increase efficiencies and conserve water wherever possible.

Plans are still in the works for an assessment at the El Segundo site. The San Diego site consists primarily of office buildings,

authorizing $2.5 million for water-reduction measures this year in support of the governor’s executive order and our company’s goals.

“Though the order doesn’t speci- fically call out companies, Northrop Grumman is taking it seriously and is being proactive,” said Katie Hamic, Aerospace Systems Sustainability/greeNG lead.

“Water conservation isn’t new to Aerospace Systems,” said Lisa Chynoweth, Aerospace Systems Sustainability/greeNG manager. “We have been implementing best management practices to conserve water for many years now, such as installing low-flow faucets and toilets, but with such extreme drought conditions, our efforts have to be much more aggressive, and we need to look systematically at opportunities in manufacturing processes, building systems and alternative water sources.”

To bring a One Northrop Grumman approach to the company’s water conservation goal of 20 percent

by 2020, corporate greeNG char-tered an Enterprise Water Council comprised of water experts from each sector.

Corporate greeNG is also sponsor-ing water use assessments across the company with an initial focus on California sites. Space Park was the first to pilot the assessment in November 2014, and Palmdale followed in May 2015.

The Space Park assessment found that the cooling towers (used to cool buildings) and reverse-osmosis systems (used in manufacturing processes) are consuming the most water. Plans are in place to upgrade the reverse-osmosis systems to increase efficiency and expedite installation of new water-saving technologies in the cooling towers by the end of the year. Conservation measures at Space Park alone will save more than 70 million gallons annually.

Space Park’s landscape watering schedule has been reduced by

Rivers and lakes at historically low levels; residents opting for rock gardens or turf instead of lawns … signs of one of the worst droughts on record are everywhere in California.

3621INSIDE AEROSPACE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

When you see a 17-foot-tall mechanical giraffe walking toward you and paper rockets soaring into the air, you know something different and special is happening. That was definitely the case in June when more than 700 middle school and high school-age students visited Space Park in Redondo Beach, Calif., for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.

The event, organized and hosted by the employee resource group WiNGs-LA, was supported by nearly 200 employee volunteers and program leads who helped guide the fun-filled day’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) tours, presentations and hands-on activities.

Corey Moore, vice president of Global Supply Chain and Space Park site manager, opened the event with a video and stories of the incredible work done by family employees every day. He challenged our young guests—accompanied by their family

members—to see, explore, and ask questions.

On the agenda were tours of program areas for the James Webb Space Telescope, Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the F-35 aircraft and FabLab, complete with up-close presentations and hands-on demonstrations.

The Hands-On Engineering Fair held after lunch tested our young guests’ engineering and innovation skills in big and small ways, from athletics with the LA Galaxy soccer team trainers to practicing origami

folding. Kids also designed and raced derby cars in the Pinewood Derby.

“It was an inspiring event. The amount of pride and hard work that went into organizing a showcase of this magnitude was incredible. Our families got a small glimpse of what we do and had lot of fun,” said Moore. “I am very proud of all the volunteers who made this possible.”In the Innovation Construction Zone, kids went back to engineer-ing basics by building and creating with commonly available items: cardboard boxes, cables, wheels, tarps and tubes, plastic clips, and of course, safety goggles. More than 20 activity booths kept kids and parents engaged.

This year, a new team activity brought home the magic of what we do: Aerodynamics in Action. Participants constructed and launched paper rockets and watch-ed them soar into the air. Following the event, probably more than one Space Park employee was left wondering, “How did a paper rocket get on the roof?”

Inside the Environmental Test Lab, two future engineers experiment with a ball filled with liquid nitrogen. As the liquid nitrogen evaporates, the gas escapes out of a hole in the ball, causing it to spin.

Photos by Alex Evers

ACROSS THE SECTOR

By Michelle Meyer

SO THIS IS WHERE YOU

WORK

3620

A young boy performs a successful

paper rocket launch.

An electronic giraffe greets visitors to Space Park.


ACROSS THE SECTOR

Employees gathered from throughout the sector for a special evening Friday, Aug. 21, at the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott, where sector President Tom Vice and his executive leadership team recognized individuals who demonstrated the ultimate in LIMITLESS ingenuity.

Nine teams captured the 2015 President’s Award, which recog-nizes exceptional performance in one of four categories: Opera-tional Excellence, Program Excellence, Customer Excellence and Innovation-for-Affordability Excellence.

This year’s honorees “are trans-forming Northrop Grumman, reshaping the aerospace industry and changing our understanding of the world around us,” Vice stated. “The President’s Award recognizes amazing team members achieving truly remarkable things. You, our awardees, are courageous, passionate and ingenious. You are risk takers, visionaries. You are infected with a non-stop, can-do spirit. Simply stated, you are an extraordinary group with every intention of changing everything.

“In some cases,” Vice continued, “the world for decades to come will

not even know, or can know, the ingenious breakthroughs you have achieved. But in all cases, you are changing the very fabric of our company—you have reached up and grabbed a hold of an excit-ing future and pulled it ever so close. You are transforming our company, reshaping our industry and changing our understanding of our world.

“There were so many outstanding achievements in 2014. I am very proud of the incredible innovation and performance demonstrated by all the nominated teams; the caliber of the accomplish-ments was truly inspiring,” Vice said. “While every nomination personifies the pioneering spirit of ingenuity at Aerospace Systems and deserves our recognition, there were a select few that represented the best of the best.”

“The people who work for Northrop Grumman are brilliant, bold and creative. And through their vision and actions, the honorees … have shown us what remarkable results can be had when we lean forward and take a chance to make a difference,” said Heidi Hendrix, sector vice president of Human Resources.

“Simply put, those whom we honor are dedicated to making the world a better place through their imaginative ideas and bold innovation. Our honorees are leaders, and through the work they do, they teach us and inspire us to break new ground and break through barriers.”

In addition to honoring the present, the August event recognized a face from Aerospace Systems’ not-so-distant past.

Former Northrop Grumman em-ployee Scott J. Seymour, who was corporate vice president and president of the former Integrated Systems (now Aerospace Sys-tems), was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Seymour led the development, production and delivery of the B-2 stealth bomber.

“Throughout his career, he had an incredible vision of the future, an unrelenting passion for our customers and the deepest loyalty for his team,” Vice said before presenting Seymour with the honor. “He has been the most inspiring, motivating, demanding, the most authentic and caring leader I believe our industry has ever seen. He set the standard for bold and courageous leadership.”

Tom Vice addressing the award winners at the 2015 President’s Awards.

Photo by Robert M. Brown

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE: E-2/C-2 Transition to Manned Aircraft Design Center of Excellence

Recipients: Robert Armenti, Vito Fagiolino, Christine Galati, Ivan Jackson, Donna Krebs,

Mark Soley

Busting Bureaucracy — Our Heritage, Our Future

Recipients: Billie Finn, Tom Henson, Danny Lieu, Sandy McElroy, Dane Rasmussen, Bill Uphoff

PROGRAM EXCELLENCE: AP-610 Program TeamRecipients: Mark Burns, Robbie Gerhart, Ardis Laine,

Carl Meade, Christopher Moss, Gary Tiebens

Strategic Systems Program TeamRecipients: Jim Devore, Mike Peters, Richard Rose,

Jeff Sokol, Jon Stinson, Barry Strattan

CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE: Advanced Extremely High Frequency SV4 Early Payload Delivery

Recipients: Greg Dell, Kevin Flanigan, Daniel Franzen, Steve Mishima, Charles “Geoff” Turner, Frederick Walker

Providing Solutions for Our AlliesRecipients: Michael Albright, Dave Buttram, Steve Carnesi,

Pake Chin, Brian Connors, Kathryn Cowen, Drew Flood, Pat Morris, Jack Pritchett, Fred Shelton, Gregory Thomas,

Rick Weir

INNOVATION-FOR-AFFORDABILITY EXCELLENCE:

Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab)Recipients: Debbie Bales, Cindy Kohlmiller, Tony Long, Russ Naranjo,

Kaha Sariashvili, Michael Wheaton

Diverse Accessible Heterogeneous IntegrationRecipients: Augusto Gutierrez-Aitken, Nancy Lin, Cedric Monier,

Ben Poust, Ken Sato, Dennis Scott

GPS Payload Innovation Conceptualization and DemonstrationRecipients: Doug Cockfield, Cyrus Dhalla, Ed Koretzky, Daniel Liu,

Marlon Marquez, Anand Shah

By Chris Boyd

BEST OF THE

BEST:2015 PRESIDENT’S AWARD HONOREES

TAKING HOME TOP HONORS ARE ...

3624Karin West, a volunteer with South Bay Wildlife Rehab,

prepares to release a recently rehabilitated peregrine falcon from the ninth floor of the E2 Building at Aerospace Systems’

Redondo Beach, Calif., facility.

Photo by Alex Evers


Once an endangered species, the peregrine falcon returned from the brink, and the sleekly shaped raptor that can dive at speeds up to 200 mph has inspired aerospace engineers in their design of a more perfect warbird.

A pair of nesting peregrines, a bird of prey, has made its home atop the 11-story E2 Building at Aerospace Systems’ Space Park facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., for months now. Peregrine falcons favor cliff nests in the wild, but they’ve adapted well to high-rise buildings like E2 that mimic cliffs.

Current drought conditions have led to fewer birds in the area, and hence fewer meals for the pair that subsist mainly on small to medium-sized birds like pigeons and ducks. Still, the peregrines managed to have at least one fledgling this past spring. Like young birds sometimes do, the 2-month-old fledgling got a little too adventurous while it was learning to fly in late June and injured itself falling off a ledge, likely bruising a leg or two —nothing was broken. Animal Control officers picked up the bird, which was limping around the E2 parking lot, and later sent it to an organization called South Bay Wildlife Rehab (SBWR).

At SBWR, the bird learned to fly and hunt, and it gained some needed weight. Then on Wednesday, July 29, SBWR volunteer Karin West, accompanied by Aerospace

Systems Facilities specialist Ismael (Mike) Deanda, released the peregrine from E2’s ninth floor. It flew east until reuniting with its parents. “The release went beautifully,” West said.

“It just feels really good to let the birds fly free. We’ve released some that even we thought didn’t have a chance.”SBWR relies on 60 to 70 volunteers to work with up to 1,400 birds per year, and the organization is always looking for additional assistance.

Visit www.sbwr.org for more information, check it out on Facebook or call (310) 378-9921.

HOMEFRONT

By Chris Boyd

ON A WING AND A PRAYER


COMMUNITY

EMPLOYEE

Photo by Alex Evers

More than 100 Northrop Grumman employees along with their families cheered in support of Team USA’s gold medal performance at the Special Olympics World Volley-ball games held this summer at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Northrop Grumman supported the Special Olympics through the organization’s Fans in Stands volunteer program where corporate and community champions establish dedicated teams to attend specific World Games events and bolster enthusiasm for the athletes.

Carol Erikson, vice president of Engineering for Space Systems and Research and Technology, along with Art Lofton, sector vice president of Global Mission Excellence, and Keith Burton, community relations representative, had the honor

of presenting medals to the athletes at these games.

“Seeing the incredible excitement and pride on the face of every athlete was truly inspiring,” said Erikson. “I think we all felt tremendous pride in attending the Special Olympics as colleagues supporting the worldwide humanitarian program. The opportunity to personally congratulate the athletes and present their medals was a real honor.”

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

WORLD GAMESLos Angeles, Calif.

By Bonnie Poindexter

In just two weeks this summer, 130 Northrop Grumman interns at the Melbourne, Fla., site raised more than $2,000 for school supplies to benefit teachers and students in Brevard County public schools.

Through the 10-day fundraiser called The Penny Project, interns staffed lobbies and the cafeteria for nearly two hours each day. Armed with collection buckets, they encouraged employees to contribute pennies and other loose change. Employee teams posted a daily tally of donations in the cafeteria to keep the momentum going.

The campaign was led by postgraduate interns Elizabeth Hopkins and Ryan Haughey,

both recently hired by Northrop Grumman. The proceeds benefitted Brevard Schools Foundation’s Supply Zone for Teachers, a resource center that provides free school supplies for those who need them most.

At the end of the campaign, several interns attended the Supply Zone’s annual “Back-to-School Giveaway.” With almost 2,000 families in attendance, each child received a bag filled with school supplies for the year and a new backpack.

“Seeing how much has been raised for the community shows just how far pennies can take you,” said Hopkins.

At the end of this year’s Special Olympics World Games in L.A.,

athletes received exuberant applause during the medal presentation.

Photo by Belanna Zamudio

IT ALL ADDS UPMelbourne, Fla.

By Sarah Bishop Communications Intern

Acknowledging the contributions Northrop Grumman employees make at work and in the community throughout the year, thou-sands of employees are being recognized at sites across the sector during their respective “Employee Appreciation Day.”

The Space Park celebration took place Sept. 2, and upcoming AS events are scheduled for:

/ St. Augustine, Fla. Nov. 12

/ Bethpage, N.Y. Nov. 16

/ Melbourne, Fla. Nov. 19

/ Palmdale, Calif. Dec. 9

APPRECIATION DAY

PERFORMANCE


VENUS CALLING By Sally Koris

Venus is the femme fatale of planets: mysterious and seductive but deadly, with a hot and hostile surface, and shrouded in a thick layer of clouds that make understanding the planet difficult.

Few missions have gone to Venus in recent years beyond the recently concluded European Venus Express, NASA’s Mariner flybys, Pioneer Venus, Magellan radar mapping mission and a series of short-lived Russian probes launched from 1960 through the early 1980s.

The planet is a near twin to Earth, but scientists have limited understanding of its differences despite these previous missions. So Northrop Grumman has come up with a unique concept to explore Venus’ atmosphere and understand its evolutionary path, perhaps also shedding light on Earth’s planetary and climate evolution.

Called the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform, or VAMP, the concept draws on the company’s extensive experience in aircraft and autonomous air vehicles, science and other space missions, large deployables and entry systems to create a highly maneuverable air vehicle.

A delta-wing shaped inflatable air vehicle that bears a strong resemblance to the Flying Wing, the B-2 Spirit and X-47B, VAMP is designed to be transported to Venus on a spacecraft, where it

will be inflated and deployed into the Venusian atmosphere. Using solar-powered propellers, VAMP will cruise through the atmosphere some 32 to 42 miles above the surface, gathering data on the clouds and atmosphere for about a year’s time.

“We’ve developed a new approach to explore Venus that relies on proven technologies and could be fielded in just a few years,” said Greg Lee, VAMP/LEAF program manager. “The beauty of the concept is that it supports something that hasn’t been done before. And that’s a long-duration mission with an air vehicle that is maneuverable in longitude, latitude and altitude.”

VAMP is the first application of the Lifting Entry Atmospheric Flight (LEAF) System family of systems, which has taken shape with the contributions of Lee, Ron Polidan, Daniel Sokol, Floyd Ross and others. LEAF vehicles are designed to be atmospheric rovers and explore the atmosphere of Mars, Titan or even Earth. Venus was selected for the first mission because it has a dense atmosphere not too different than the Earth’s at the altitude where it would operate.

To help shape the mission, the team formed a Science Advisory Board. The board will help define specific science goals, measurement requirements, and identify possible instruments for future VAMP missions. It will also serve as a science analysis group to mine existing data about Venus that may be useful to the VAMP mission.

The team has also developed and fabricated several engineering models that have been used for design validation testing. In June, a team successfully glide-tested remote controlled electronics. Other tests are planned for this autumn, including propulsion flight tests, arc jet and Venus atmospheric exposure chamber tests, and a deployment concept demonstration to validate our packaging and deployment concept.

“We’re going to keep on developing this mission, with an eye to maturing it enough to bid for future NASA missions,” said Lee. “And we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it too.”

Artist’s concept of VAMP shown flying through the thick clouds

surrounding Venus

THE HIGH-Q OF STSS

By AnnaMaria White

The Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) started as just a ballistic missile tracking and surveillance demonstration.Six years later, STSS is still flying—more than four years past its mission life—and doing much more.

When first launched on Sept. 25, 2009, the two STSS demonstration satellites were intended to prove the value of space assets for missile defense. But once operational, that value became quickly apparent.

“From the high ground of space, we can spot and track a missile from birth to death, which was something that had never been done before,” said Gabe Watson, vice president of GEOINT, Sensing and Science.

The STSS demonstration system features two tandem infrared satellites, situated in Low Earth Orbit. Each satellite is equipped with a wide-view acquisition sensor and a narrow-view tracking sensor, which combine to enable STSS to locate and track missiles in all phases of flight, determine the missile trajectory and collect data.

The spacecraft’s signal and data processor boasts a high data per second rate, and can simultaneously detect and track multiple objects in real time, telling ground and ship-based interceptors where to engage enemy missiles.

With its impressive technologies, STSS achieved its original mission objectives five months ahead of schedule. And since it was still operating, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Northrop

Grumman team started getting creative to expand the satellites’ sensor capabilities.

“The MDA asked us if STSS could perform additional tasks, such as space domain awareness and Earth observations. We accepted the challenge and found a way to incorporate multiple tasks without interfering with the primary mission of missile defense,” said Chris Stroud, STSS payload specialist. “When you are able to track dim missiles from space, you have an inherent capability to perform several other defense missions.”

Collaborating with the MDA and responding to their expanding interests, the STSS team increased the satellites’ activity six-fold from 2011 to 2014 and doubled on-orbit operational time. The majority of this new activity was non-missile-related and included space situational awareness, technical intelligence, battlefield assessment, civil disaster support, and environmental monitoring.

“We recognized the value of a multi-band infrared sensor and expanded our collections from just missile defense to supporting multiple areas of national defense,” added Stroud.

The STSS program and team have been recognized by the MDA multiple times, including the 2011 Pinnacle Award for exceptional performance, the agency’s highest honor. The program also won the 2013 Aviation Week Program Excellence Award for Special

Projects, selected for its innova-tive concepts, technologies and process enhancements.

“Working with the MDA has been very rewarding, and they have helped us transform these research and development satellites into a quasi-operational system with expanded national defense capabilities,” said Watson.

“The STSS team regularly delivers quality above and beyond what anyone thought possible and has proven the value of space beyond any doubt.”

Jeff Namart also contributed to this article.

The second of two Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites

leaves a thermal vacuum testing chamber at Northrop Grumman in

Redondo Beach, Calif., in 2007.


PERFORMANCE


This is a story of outstanding quality, smart innovation and true collaboration—all in two small packages.

Tyecha Williams and Luke McCord show off FOEPA.

Photo by Daniel Perales

PERFORMANCE

In an ever-evolving effort to drive mission excellence, a cross-functional Aerospace Systems team has invented and developed a system called FOEPA (Foreign Object Escape Prevention Assistant), which helps inspec-tors find foreign objects (FO) before shipsets leave Northrop Grumman’s manufacturing lines.

“FOEPA is the ingenious product of a team of engineers confronting an ongoing challenge to improve quality,” said Northrop Grumman Fellow Steve Engel.

Designed to replace conventional flashlight-and-mirror or borescope inspection tools, the FOEPA system helps inspectors see

into areas that, until now, have been difficult to access. What’s more, FOEPA notifies inspectors of anomalies such as tape and fasteners based on what the system has “learned” a FO-free surface should look like.

FOEPA is an ongoing, successful homegrown collaboration between Research, Technology and Advanced Design, Global Mission Excellence, Engineering and Global Product Development, Global Operations and AOA Xinetics, a Northrop Grumman strategic business unit specializing in advanced optical systems.

“We saw a clear need to give our inspectors a tool that could help

them do their great work even better,” says Scott Shaffar, director of Global Mission Excellence for Unmanned Systems.

“Working together across functions and disciplines enabled us to come up with something no one ever had conceived before. And it’s making a difference right now.” FOEPA comes in two sizes. The larger system uses a laptop computer and a borescope,

while the handheld machine replaces the borescope with a flashlight-sized element. Aside from the operators, the real key to both systems is the software, completely developed by Northrop Grumman. As FOEPA has matured, the software has become smarter and more robust, helping improve its already stellar performance.

“We created FOEPA with a purpose in mind, but as we’ve incorporated the lessons we’ve learned, it’s become even more valuable,” says software engineer Bob Christ, who helped create the system. “FOEPA now can recognize and call attention to anomalies worth examining.”

The system is employed on two aircraft programs, and 15 units are planned for distribution in 2016. It’s principal investigator John Crawford’s job to oversee FOEPA’s use.

“Operators find the system easy to use, and, given the important information they’re getting, it’s clear FOEPA will continue to be an innovation that drives quality wherever it’s used,” says Crawford. “I think the system’s power comes from the way it constantly uses operator feedback to keep learning and improving.”

Next year promises great things for FOEPA beyond a rollout to multiple sector locations. A patent

is pending, which may be granted in 2016, and AOA Xinetics is leading plans to begin selling the system to outside interests.

“It’s easy to focus on just how an innovation can positively impact what we do, but FOEPA has applications well beyond aerospace,” says engineering fellow John Madsen. “Think of the ways this system can make a difference in areas like healthcare, law enforcement and the food industry—anywhere it’s important to see beyond what technology has allowed until now. That may be the lasting legacy of this system—that it will help in ways we can’t even imagine today.”

By Tom Henson

A FOEPA

THAT’S NOT


PUTTING QUALITY TO THE TESTBy AnnaMaria White

“We have hardware on Mars, orbiting Earth and the moon, and even leaving the solar system on Voyager I,” said John A. Alvarez, general manager. With thousands of pieces of space hardware and deployables, how do you keep that record going?

For starters, Astro relies on its deep toolset of proven hardware and equipment. “We’ve been doing this for so long, we have tools and techniques that we know will work,” added Leonard Karpenko, one of the company’s quality engineers. Astro’s proven design approach relies on very precise analysis on the motion of the system of bodies, called kinematics.

For example, Astro Aerospace recently built a spinning reflector and boom. “No one has ever tried to spin such a large reflector before,” said Karpenko. Since the rotation could not be tested in gravity, the Astro Aerospace team invented new methods to achieve the extremely precise mass

measurements they needed to ensure the reflector would spin correctly in space.

These techniques allowed Astro’s engineers to keep the reflector and boom mass to within a 3.5-ounce window (equal to about 39 pennies) and the center of mass within a half-inch (1.3-centimeter) window.

But most importantly, all of these good ideas have to pass Astro’s extensive testing. “We test every piece multiple times,” added Alvarez. “Some things you can’t test accurately in gravity, so we have to carefully model what we can’t test. That can take a lot of time, the investment is well worth it to maintain our successful heritage.”

With their combination of expertise, precision and testing, the Astro team plans to keep their 100 percent success streak going.

Since its founding in 1958, Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman strategic business unit, has maintained a 100 percent on-orbit success record.

PERFORMANCE

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite

Photo courtesy of NASA JPL

THE VALUE OFAN ENTIRE COMPANY

BREAKING THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT’S POSSIBLE.

© 2015 Northrop Grumman Corporation

© 2015 Northrop Grumman Corporation w w w. n o r t h r o p g r u m m a n . c o m /glob alhaw k

THE VALUE OFONE SYSTEM DOING THE JOB OF MANY.

To tackle the U.S. Air Force’s increasing need for persistent high-altitude ISR information,

Northrop Grumman developed a Universal Payload Adapter (UPA) for all Global Hawks. To support

more diverse missions, Global Hawks can be equipped with a wider range of legacy and next-generation

sensors. The Global Hawk can also fly 30+ hour missions at an incredibly efficient cost per flight hour.

That’s why we’re a leader in innovative Unmanned Systems.

GLOBAL HAWK

quality is a team sport 10 - northrop grumman corporation · stss-demonstration satellites’...

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