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NGC Tests ASTAMIDS On New Unmanned Helicopter
(Melbourne, Fla., October 7, 2008) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) flew its new Airborne Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Minefield Detection System (ASTAMIDS) for the first time aboard an unmanned air vehicle. ASTAMIDS, which is in development for the U.S. Army, flew on Northrop Grumman's new, company-owned MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Unmanned Air System helicopter, designated as "P6."
The ASTAMIDS-P6 flight took place at an Army test facility on September 12. There were two flights that day. Using a tactical common data link, the company team at the developmental Tactical Ground Segment, a ground-based payload control center, successfully operated the Payload Command and Control and Imagery Data Collection systems in ASTAMIDS while it was airborne.
"ASTAMIDS itself is important because of what it will do to alert our ground combat soldiers of approaching threats," said Bob Klein, vice president of Northrop Grumman Maritime and Tactical Systems integrated product team. "What makes this sensor-vehicle combination so significant is that Fire Scout can carry ASTAMIDS far beyond the point of U.S. ground forces to detect the presence of minefields and sight enemy locations without putting a single soldier at risk."
"In a programmatic sense," said Klein, "we believe ASTAMIDS will make a profound contribution to the Army's coming Brigade Combat Teams, giving them unmatched situational awareness in the remote, asymmetric combat environments they will face."
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Northrop Grumman Corporation
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