Northrop Grumman and EADS sign MoU on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Farnborough, 26 July 2000
Farnborough - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company - EADS (stock exchange symbol EAD) announced today the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to cooperate on a high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (HALE UAV) system. Under the agreement, Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems Sector (ISS) will work with EADS on a joint project team to evaluate a common unmanned system approach to meeting urgent European airborne standoff intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) requirements. The team will also address the issues of UAV operations in controlled airspace, system reliability and interoperability with NATO forces. "We are pleased to combine forces with EADS in a true spirit of partnership. Our companies are taking a positive step in response to the urgent ISR needs formulated in the NATO Defence Capability initiative (DCI)," said Ralph Crosby, Jr., Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and ISS president. "A key element of our sector's focus to be the world's best airborne systems integration enterprise is the Global Hawk UAV system. We believe the Global Hawk will significantly enhance the military's ability to prevail in all types of operations - from sensitive peacekeeping missions to full-scale combat. We now hope to leverage that technology in response to NATO customer requirements." "This is another important building block for the EADS/Northrop Grumman'S relationship and it is good for our defence business", said Tom Enders, Head of the Defence and Civil Systems Division. "Surveillance and reconnaissance on unmanned platforms is becoming a key requirement in many Nato countries' armed force postures and both companies have impressive skills in this field. We will jointly target synergies in development, procurement and logistics. This approach will benefit the European customer and it also demonstrates new transatlantic cooperation can be mutually beneficial." This latest agreement is a further expansion of potential business alliances outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in April 2000, and expanded in June 2000. Under a separate MoU, signed on April 19, 2000, the two companies announced their intention to collaborate on the AN/APN-241 weather and navigation radar for the European A400M military transport aircraft. EADS has arisen from the merger of Aerospatiale Matra, Construcciones Aeronáuticas S. A. and DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG. With pro forma revenues of more than EUR 22.5 billion (1999), EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world. The company has approximately 87,000 employees working at more than 90 sites in France, Germany and Spain. EADS has valuable capabilities and experiences in the field of HALE UAV, avionics and subsystems design and C4I as well as enhanced SR sensor systems. Northrop Grumman builds the Global Hawk HALE System for the United States Air Force. The Global Hawk Air Vehicle operates up to 65,000 ft altitude (almost 18 Km), and can remain on station for 24 hours, at a radius of action of 1200 NM (2000 Km) from its home base. The company's ISS, headquartered in Dallas, Tex., is a premier aerospace systems integration enterprise. ISS has the capabilities to design, develop, integrate, produce and support complete systems, as well as airframe subsystems, for airborne surveillance and battle management aircraft, early warning aircraft, airborne electronic warfare aircraft and air combat aircraft. Northrop Grumman Corporation, headquartered in Los Angeles, is a world-class, high technology company providing innovative solutions in systems integration, defense electronics and information technology for its U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers, as a prime contractor, principal subcontractor, team member or preferred supplier. The company had $7.6 billion in revenues for 1999 and a workforce of approximately 36,000 employees.
