LONDON, July 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop Grumman
Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has participated in Unified Vision 2014
(UV14), NATO's largest trial of Joint Intelligence, Surveillance
and Reconnaissance (JISR) capability aimed at demonstrating and
evaluating the Alliance's ability to coordinate and deploy crucial
Allied ISR systems.
During the 10-day trial, U.S. European Command, in close
coordination with and in support of NATO flew the high altitude
long endurance unmanned aerial system (UAS), Block 30 Global Hawk,
in three successful full-day sorties from Orland Main Air Station, Norway. The trial comprised of satellites,
aircrafts, unmanned aerial vehicles, naval vessels, ground sensors
and human intelligence from 18 NATO countries and tested NATO's
ability to gather information and fuse intelligence from multiple
sources – space, in the air, on land and at sea – at different
stages of operations.
Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the NATO Alliance
Ground Surveillance (AGS) system, a derivative of the combat proven
Global Hawk. The Global Hawk used in the trial is currently
stationed at Sigonella Air Base, Sicily,
Italy which will serve as the main operating base (MOB) for
NATO AGS. UV14 will help NATO prepare for the introduction of its
future AGS capability and to enhance data sharing with other ISR
systems provided by nations.
"This exercise demonstrated the powerful role unmanned systems
can play in helping NATO conduct its future ISR operations," said
Jim Edge, General Manager, NATO
Alliance Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA). "It was
great to see how existing airspace procedures enabled the seamless
integration of a NATO AGS into European airspace for this
trial."
Joint ISR (JISR) is a key factor associated with the Alliance's
strategic readiness and the success of its operations and missions.
In May 2012, NATO decided to acquire
an AGS system that will give commanders a comprehensive picture of
the situation on the ground using five Global Hawk unmanned aerial
vehicles.
Northrop Grumman and its European industry team also supported
the Joint Force Commander with daily high-resolution simulations of
NATO AGS and daily live data surveillance products from
interoperable systems. The ground components of the NATO AGS system
supported the production and fusing of intelligence data from a
wide variety of employed NATO assets, a key piece to NATO
developing Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs) for
interoperability between the systems from many nations.
Enhancing NATO's JISR capabilities is a major theme that will be
highlighted at the NATO Summit in Wales in September. NATO AGS includes
European-sourced ground assets that will provide in-theatre support
to commanders of deployed forces. Mobile and Transportable Ground
Stations will provide an interface between the AGS core system and
a wide range of interoperable NATO and national command, control,
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
NATO is acquiring the system with 15 nations participating,
including: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the
United States.
NATO AGS will be able fly at 60,000 feet for more than 30 hours,
making the system uniquely suited to NATO's global needs. Global
Hawk platforms have logged more than 115,000 flight hours and have
supported operations in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya and Nigeria. The system has also collected weather
data in support of scientific missions and participated in
humanitarian relief efforts after the devastating natural disasters
in Haiti, Japan and the
Philippines.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
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SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation