• Naval Warfare

  Frigate building in South America – the fleet renewal challenge

  2nd April 2024

  South America has become something of a retirement village warships where the average age of major surface combatants is 40 years, some of which should probably be in a museum. Peru, however, has joined Brazil and Colombia in a group of three countries that have been attempting to modernise their fleets with new frigates and corvettes built in local shipyards.

• Naval Warfare

  Australia’s new frigate options: No easy choices as pressure mounts on DoD

  16th April 2024

  A new class of General Purpose ‘Tier 2’ frigate will replace the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) Anzac-class frigates, but the selected design options appear to have major issues in terms of compatibility and availability for the future fleet.

• Air Warfare

  Raytheon expands air missile production and announces successful use of StormBreaker from F-35C

  23rd July 2024

  Raytheon has been pushing its production line to meet demand for missiles. At the same time, the Farnborough International Airshow exhibitor has been trying to ensure there are no weak links in its supply chain and increase its depth of suppliers.

• Land Warfare

  Northrop Grumman tests IBCS missile defence in live environment

  15th December 2023

  Northrop Grumman's Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) recently underwent successful live fire flight tests, showcasing its ability to integrate sensors and engage threats.

• Digital Battlespace

  Thales combines lightweight sensors on specialist target designator vehicle

  20th June 2024

  The 6x6 Griffon VOA specialist vehicle uses a mix of mast-mounted electro-optics and radar to locate and designate targets primarily for French Army artillery batteries, but can also perform the same role for combat aircraft and helicopters. The Thales mission package is platform-agnostic and could be integrated on other vehicle families for export.

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop Grumman to provide Defense Intelligence Agency with cloud services

  14th December 2023

  Neptune Phoenix, a nine-year, single-award contract, will include lifecycle management, engineering, design, development, purchasing, prototyping, data analysis, and test and evaluation.

• Naval Warfare

  South Korea approves more frigates plus SM-3 missiles

  6th May 2024

  South Korea’s six FFX Batch IV frigates are expected to be delivered by 2032 and will full retirement of remaining Pohang-class corvettes and Ulsan-class frigates, and possibly Gwanggaeto-class destroyers.

• Defence Notes

  Irish defence review highlights importance of Capability Development Unit and looks to new threats

  26th July 2024

  Ireland has a small defence force in terms of personnel, equipment and budget relative to international averages but is plotting a way to change this and a recent annual review analyses that progress.

• Digital Battlespace

  How Israel is using space to spot missile threats from Iran

  2nd May 2024

  A former Israeli space head has recommended that the Israeli Air and Space Arm operate small satellites in swarms to provide the country’s armed forces with region-wide surveillance.

• Land Warfare

  Reviving coastal protection: The renewed focus on shoreline defence

  15th May 2024

  The sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva has been among a range of incidents and geopolitical developments in recent years that has brought the issue of coastal defence back into the minds of government and defence decision-makers.

• Land Warfare

  Teledyne FLIR lifts the lid on Black Recon at Eurosatory 2024

  17th June 2024

  Teledyne FLIR has reportedly been developing the system since 2020 with support from the Norwegian Defence Research establishment.

• Air Warfare

  Second known test flight of B-21 confirmed by US Air Force

  19th January 2024

  US Air Force awarded the B-21 Engineering and Manufacturing Development contract to Northrop Grumman in 2015. The design was unveiled to the public in February 2016 under the LRS-B programme and has been scheduled to enter service within the next few years.

• Naval Warfare

  Keel laid for third Hellenic Navy frigate as harbour trials start for first

  23rd April 2024

  On 24 March 2022, Greece and Naval Group have signed a contract for three defence and intervention (FDI) frigates. Two warships will be due for delivery in 2025 and the third expected the following year, with the deal including an option to add a fourth frigate to be ready in 2027.

• Land Warfare

  New Anduril extended range sensor deployed at US–Mexican border

  23rd May 2024

  XRST, part of Anduril’s Sentry family of systems, uses autonomy to better detect, identify and track objects of interest.

• Digital Battlespace

  How to build navigational resilience for your military in a hackable world

  17th September 2024

  If the position or navigation information of your defence assets are compromised, they are as good as useless.

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk (Japan)

  Programme Background Selection & Contract AwardIn 2015, Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk UAS and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft were selected by Japan to ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  IAR-99 Replacement (Romania)

  On 29 August 2017, Leonardo announced that the IAR-99 trainer technology demonstrator (TD) will be fitted with company's Vixen 500E AESA radar. The Vixen 500E AESA ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  Long-Range Drones [Norway]

  Background Andøya Ambition On 3 April 2023, the Norwegian MoD released a statement confirming its plans for Andøya, the northernmost island in its Vesterålen archipelago. In addition to ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton (Contracted) [Australia]

  Programme Background Three Contracted Units In June 2018, the Government provided Second Pass (Tranche 1) Approval to procure the first of six air vehicles, supporting ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) [US]

  Background Aims & Timeline As stated by DARPA, the ANCILLARY programme aims to develop and fly an X-plane that will provide a “leap-ahead” in long-endurance, VTOL-capable ...

• AEW&C

  E-2D (France)

  Programme Background In July 2020, France revealed its intention of buying a fleet of three E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Aircraft with a $2 billion potential FMS deal, ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton (Option) [Australia]

  Programme Background Four Contracted Units In the summer of 2020, Northrop Grumman announced that the Australian Government provided $333 million for three MQ-4C Tritons and associated ...

• Data links

  Data links | E-6 TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) [USN]

  The TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) will replace the ageing E-6B Mercury and transition the US Airborne Strategic NC3 capability between aircraft. E-130J mission equipment will ...

• Air: Head-up displays

  Air: Head-up displays | E-6 TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) [USN]

  The TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) will replace the ageing E-6B Mercury and transition the US Airborne Strategic NC3 capability between aircraft. E-130J mission equipment will ...

• Transponders and IFF

  Transponders and IFF | E-6 TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) [USN]

  The TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) will replace the ageing E-6B Mercury and transition the US Airborne Strategic NC3 capability between aircraft. E-130J mission equipment will ...

• Air: Radio and SATCOM

  Air: Radio and SATCOM | E-6 TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) [USN]

  The TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) will replace the ageing E-6B Mercury and transition the US Airborne Strategic NC3 capability between aircraft. E-130J mission equipment will ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  Embarked VTOL UAV [South Korea]

  Programme Background VTOL Development In January 2024, South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that it would commence development of a VTOL-capable rotary-wing UAV that ...

• Military helicopters - transport/heavy lift

  AW101-Norway

  AgustaWestland is also providing initial support and training services, including spares at each of the operating bases and aircrew training. It will then provide performance ...

• Air: Radio and SATCOM

  Air: Radio and SATCOM | Penetrating Counter Air (PCA)

  USAF is working on Penetrating Counter Air (PCA) aircraft concept which may replace F-15C/Ds and F-22s in service and complement F-35s. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and ...

• Air: Helmet-mounted displays

  Air: Helmet-mounted displays | Penetrating Counter Air (PCA)

  USAF is working on Penetrating Counter Air (PCA) aircraft concept which may replace F-15C/Ds and F-22s in service and complement F-35s. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  AN/APG-81

  AN/APG-81 is operating in the X-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire control radar designed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems for the F-35 “Lightning” all-weather ...

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar, Air: surveillance radar

  AN/ASQ-236

  The AN/ASQ-236 (Dragon's Eye) is an AESA radar pod manufactured by Northrop Grumman. It is intended as a surveillance radar, capable of all-weather precision geo-location ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  AN/APG-83 SABR

  The AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire control radar being developed by Northrop Grumman using its own ...

• Major networking projects

  IBCS

  The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) is a C2 system designed to integrate current and future sensors. The system also improves ...

• Air: UAS radar

  AN/ZPQ-1 TESAR

  The Tactical Endurance Synthetic Aperture Radar (TESAR), developed by Northrop Grumman, is primarily designed for use on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) such as the Predator. 

• Air-to-surface missiles

  Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW)

  The Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) is an air-to-ground weapon that will provide strike capability to defeat rapidly relocatable targets as part of an enemy’s anti-access/area denial ...

• Land: air defence radar

  AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR

  AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) is a multi-mission system designed to support worldwide expeditionary requirements. It provides detection and tracking capabilities and offers traffic ...

• Air: Integrated Defensive Systems

  Defensive Management System-Modernisation

  The Defensive Management System-Modernisation (DMS-M) is the overarching effort to substantially enhance the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit strategic bomber’s Integrated Self-Protection System (ISPS) which includes ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - tactical

  MQ-8C Fire Scout

  The MQ-8C is a newer version of the Fire Scout and is based on a Bell 407 commercial helicopter. It offers a greater range, endurance and ...

• Military - UUVs

  Manta Ray

  Manta Ray is an uncrewed underwater vessel (UUV) developed by Northrop Grumman.

• Air: surveillance and maritime patrol radar, Air: surveillance radar, Air: UAS radar

  AN/ZPY-5 VADER

  The Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) is an airborne radar system manufactured by Northrop Grumman. It is designed to track vehicles and foot traffic ...

• Air: Integrated cockpit systems

  H-1 Family of Avionics

  Northrop Grumman produces a family of avionics for Bell H-1-series helicopters.

• Loitering munitions

  Jackal

  The Jackal is a turbojet loitering munition designed by Northrop Grumman in partnership with AeroVironment.  It features an open architecture that provides the capability to support ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  AN/APG-79

  The AN/APG-79 is an agile beam radar with a solid-state digital array that scans at nearly the speed of light, enabling detection and tracking of ...

• AEW&C, Maritime patrol

  E-2 Hawkeye

  The E-2 Hawkeye AEW&C; aircraft has gone through several iterations and can be operated from land, as with Egypt and Mexico, or from a carrier, ...