Advanced Development
To help its customers define their future, Northrop Grumman must understand their emerging needs. Integrated Systems works closely with customer laboratories and research agencies to develop new products and key technologies. These are just some of the advanced development programs in the Integrated Systems portfolio:
Heterogeneous Unmanned Reconnaissance Team (HURT)
Program Overview:
Northrop Grumman is developing HURT (which stands for Heterogeneous Unmanned Reconnaissance Team) as a low-cost, autonomous control system that can manage a variety of diverse unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver timely information about enemy positions to troops on the ground.
The HURT program is managed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory serving as the technical and contracting agent.
HURT allows ground forces to receive video surveillance imagery of the surrounding area and request specific information about suspected enemy positions on user-friendly touch screens. The system autonomously processes multiple requests and directs the most suitable aircraft to take a closer look.
Northrop Grumman has successfully demonstrated HURT's capabilities on three occasions. The most recent exercise was conducted April 9-24, 2007, at Fort Hunter Liggett, a U.S. Army training installation near King City, Calif. Northrop Grumman showed how HURT can control combinations of manned and unmanned Army aircraft already in the service inventory to send essential tactical data in real time to soldiers equipped with handheld computers.
The demonstration was performed with the cooperation of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. Some aircraft were supplied by the Army's Aviation and Missile Command. Other key members of the HURT demonstration team included AeroVironment, Dynamic Aviation, Honeywell Laboratories, Insitu Inc., Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Sarnoff Corporation and Teknowledge Corporation.
The exercise showed HURT's ability to simultaneously control three "tiers" of reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft in Tier I flew as high as 6,000 feet and scanned areas as far away as 100 miles from the combat area; those in Tier II flew at 2,000 feet and covered areas approximately 50 miles away, and those in Tier III flew as low as 100 feet over the immediate combat zone.
Using a software interface, HURT links a variety of different aerial platforms to build a unified picture of the combat area for the warfighters' use. Aircraft used in the demonstration were a manned C-12 aircraft in Tier I; ScanEagle and Hunter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Tier II, and Pointer, Raven and Wasp UAVs in Tier III.
HURT offers a low-cost way to link many dissimilar platforms into one seamless reconnaissance team without modifying either the UAVs or their ground control stations. HURT technologies have been focused on military missions to this point, but they have potentially broader use in applications such as border patrol and law enforcement.
Previous demonstrations showed how HURT could control unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to collect and deliver real-time surveillance information to ground forces in urban combat zones. In fall 2006, U.S. Marines used HURT's capabilities during urban warfare training exercises at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif. The system was initially demonstrated in 2005 at the former site of George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif.
HURT is another example of Northrop Grumman's world-class systems integration capabilities that enable a variety of military users to exchange real-time information on tactical, ad-hoc networks.
Oblique Flying Wing
Program Overview:
Northrop Grumman Corporation is designing the Oblique Flying Wing, the first-ever supersonic flying wing aircraft that can vary the sweep of its wing for the most efficient flight performance. The company was awarded a contract in March 2006 by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the first phase of the program.
DARPA’s goal is to design and conduct flight tests of an experimental tailless, supersonic, variable-sweep flying wing, and to demonstrate that such aircraft are feasible so similar designs can be considered for future military missions.
An oblique flying wing would vary its wing sweep (the angle of the wing’s leading edge relative to the direction of flight) depending on its speed. At low speeds the wing sweep is relatively low, providing an efficient aerodynamic design. At high speeds the wing is highly swept, reducing supersonic wave drag.
The supersonic design envisioned offers potential benefits for missions requiring rapid deployment, long range and long endurance. In theory, an oblique flying wing could maximize its performance in every flight regime: takeoff or landing, high or low altitude, supersonic or subsonic speed.
During the first phase, which concludes in early 2008, Northrop Grumman is conducting technology maturation to reduce the risk of the critical technologies associated with its OFW concepts and developing a preliminary design for the experimental aircraft.
This preliminary design effort could be followed by a second phase to finalize the design, build an experimental aircraft and flight test it. First flight of this “X-plane” would be in the 2011 timeframe.
Riverine Technology Demonstrator
Program Overview:
Northrop Grumman Corporation is exploring future combat system requirements and capabilities for the U.S. Navy's anticipated Riverine/Coastal Warfare program.
The company worked with Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. (ACB) in Bellingham, Wash., to build a riverine craft technology demonstrator that integrates Northrop Grumman's leading-edge navigation, surveillance, network and command and control systems onboard an innovative, ACB-designed riverine-class hullform.
The Riverine experimental boat, called the Joint Multimission Expeditionary Craft, initiated its in-water evaluation in May 2007 at ACB's headquarters. The craft and its systems are being demonstrated to potential customers.
ACB's design is 41 feet long with a 9-foot-11-inch beam and a draft of only 28 inches. Powered by two Cummins QSC 8.3-liter, 540 HP turbocharged diesel engines, the Joint Multimission Expeditionary Craft has a top speed of 48 miles per hour. With a crew of four, the new boat has room for another two observers and, depending on the mission, can also ferry a 14-member combat team or various cargoes up rivers or streams.
Northrop Grumman has designed a suite of network-centric warfare mission systems for the boat integrated with onboard and offboard systems-of-systems and command-and-control architecture. These include integrated electro-optical/infrared and radar sensors with 360-degree field of view; VHF/UHF radios with Internet Protocol capability (and provisions for growth for other radios); a wireless intercom system with active noise cancellation; common operator workstations with 17-inch color displays that have night vision compatibility and selectable crew station functions.
With this project, Northrop Grumman is exploring ways to apply its weapon systems integration expertise to the emerging opportunities in littoral and maneuver warfare. The company has decades of experience developing systems that enable distributed and networked operations.
Aluminum Chambered Boats Inc. is an aluminum boat manufacturer that provides rugged state-of-the-art aluminum boats to government, recreational and commercial customers on a global basis.
