Northrop expanding scope of work at Coast facility

MOSSs POINT - Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems sector is expanding the scope of work at its planned unmanned systems center at Trent Lott International Airport to include manufacture of subassemblies for the U.S. Air Force's RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV).

Originally

slated to occupy 39,000 square feet and employ approximately 40 people to produce the U.S. Navy and Army RQ-813 Fire Scout UAV, the facility will now occupy approximately 105,000 square feet and provide up to 160 hightechnology manufacturing jobs. Integrated Systems is the prime contractor for both Fire Scout and Global Hawk.

"Throughout its history, the unmanned air vehicle has been an extremely costeffective means for our military customer to execute certain operational missions," said Christopher Hernandez, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's unmanned systems business. "Expanding operations at this manufacturing center in Moss Point enables Northrop Grumman to directly respond to our customers' desire to manage UAV costs and provide the best value solution for their acquisition dollar."

In addition to being an ideal location for building, testing and flying UAVs, the Trent Lott International Airport location allows Northrop Grumman to expand opportunities for a local, welltrained workforce and leverage resources and systemsengineering skills at the company's shipbuilding operations in nearby Pascagoula.

Integrated Systems is the fourth Northrop Grumman organization to locate in Jackson County. Northrop Grumman's shipbuilding operations have been in Pascagoula since 1938. The company's Electronic Systems and Information Technology sectors also have facilities and employees in Jackson County.

The RQ-8B Fire Scout is a vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle based on the Schweizer 333 commercial helicopter. The Fire Scout system will provide surveillance, reconnaissance, communications relay, precision targeting and weapons delivery to support tactical military operations from ships at sea and unimproved landing areas for the Navy and as the Class IV unmanned aerial vehicle for the U.S. Army's Future Combat System. Both versions will be produced in Moss Point.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high altitude, long endurance reconnaissance system that provides near-real-time imagery of the earth's surface to battlespace commanders at sea and on the ground. The system has logged more than 6,000 flight hours with nearly half accumulated during combat operations supporting the global war on terrorism.