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Press Releases
August 18, 2004
Darpa Awards Funding to Northrop Grumman
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today awarded Northrop
Grumman Corp., Integrated Systems, San Diego, Calif., a $1,037,274,437 other
transaction for prototypes agreement for the next five years of the X-47B portion
of the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) demonstration program.
Under the newly awarded agreement, the Northrop Grumman team will conduct
a fiveyear effort to design, develop and demonstrate a minimum of three full-scale,
flight-worthy air vehicles and three mission control systems. The system will
include integrated sensors, communication, navigation equipment and low observability
features, along with a common operating system to meet mission capability objectives
established by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The targeted missions encompass
suppression of enemy air defenses, penetrating surveillance in denied enemy airspace,
and precision strike − all from both land and aircraft carrier bases. The
system’s objectives include an air vehicle combat radius of 1,500 nautical
miles with a weapons payload of 4,500 pounds, electronic warning system and an
integrated synthetic aperture radar. The vehicles are designed to survive in
a high threat environment and feature beyond-line-of-sight network connectivity
for global operations. This effort will culminate in operational experimentation
and an assessment that will explore the capabilities of the X-47B in realistic
mission scenarios.
Northrop Grumman heads a team that includes Lockheed Martin Corp., Palmdale,
Calif., and Pratt & Whitney Military Engines Division, East Hartford, Conn.
X-47B flight demonstrations will begin in 2007 at a West Coast test site followed
by catapult launches and arrested landings planned to occur at Naval Air Warfare
Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md.
Media with questions, please contact Jan Walker, (703) 696-2404, or jwalker@darpa.mil
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