J Nolasco Dacunha News

LONDON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has signed a full production contract for the Integrated Navigation Bridge System (INBS) for the U.K. Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Aircraft Carrier Programme. The company also signed a design phase contract for the Navigation Lights, Shapes and Sounds (NLSS). Terms of the contracts were not disclosed. Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine will build and deliver the complete INBS, including electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS-N (U.K.)) for the new aircraft carriers. The system will include navigation planning, electronic charts and radar displays, as well as a comprehensive set of sensors and software.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has announced that its Sperry Marine business unit has opened a new ship navigation training center in Charlottesville, Va. The new facility will provide a wide range of navigation courses, including computer-controlled classroom training and a full ship’s bridge simulator, giving students hands-on training under realistic scenarios. Courses include operation, maintenance, trouble-shooting and repair of shipboard systems for both civilian and military navigation systems. The facility is expected to serve approximately 750 students per year. The navigation courses are designed to meet International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards and U.S.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has unveiled a new marine alarm, monitoring and control solutions. The new series of shipboard machinery automation solutions, marketed by Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit under the VisionMaster label, is being introduced to provide cost-effective scalable solutions for small- to medium-size commercial and naval vessels. The hardware is type approved to meet the requirements of major classification societies for unmanned machinery space operation. Offered in two basic configurations – VisionMaster Alarm Management System (AMS) and VisionMaster Machinery Control System (MCS) – the new Sperry Marine solutions use commercial-off-the-shelf industry-standard components for all key building blocks within the system.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been selected to supply the bridge navigation systems for two new superyachts under construction by Italian yachtbuilder Perini Navi at its shipyards in Viareggio and La Spezia. The orders for the integrated bridge systems were awarded to Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit through Telemar Yachting, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine’s authorized sales and service representative for the yacht market in Italy. Telemar Yachting is responsible for designing, installing, integrating and commissioning the bridge electronics for the two yachts. The yachts are the 183.7-ft aluminum ketch SY Melek…

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has supplied the integrated bridge systems (IBS) for two new high-speed passenger ferries for the Norwegian ferry operator Fjord1 Fylkesbaatane. Each of the vessels has been fitted with a complete suite of Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT navigation electronics including radars, electronic chart display and information system, autopilot, gyrocompass, DGPS, gyrocompass, speed log and other sensors. The system components are connected via an Ethernet network to provide a fully integrated picture for the bridge watchstanders on multi-function workstations. The suites were installed by the company Sigurd Solberg AS Florø, Norway.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has won a contract to upgrade the inertial navigation systems (INS) for the Swedish navy’s submarines. Under the contract, awarded by Kockums AB, Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine unit will supply five MK 39 Mod 3C ring laser gyro systems for installation on two Gotland-class and two Södermanland-class submarines, with one set to be used for spares and training. The MK 39 Mod 3C systems will replace the existing spinning mass gyrocompasses currently fitted on the submarines. CA Clase AB, Sperry Marine’s sales and service representative in Sweden, was instrumental in securing the order. Kockums AB will perform the installations, which will be completed by 2011.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has been chosen to supply radars for the Sydney Harbour Ferries fleet. Sydney Harbour Ferries will fit the Sperry Marine new-generation VisionMaster FT chart radars on all 28 vessels in the fleet. Electrotech Australia Pty Ltd, Sperry Marine’s licensed sales and service representative in Australia, will install and commission the radars and will provide technical support through its Sydney office. “The VisionMaster FT chart radars enhance situational awareness for watch officers by providing an overlay of radar images on a detailed electronic chart display,” said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of Naval Systems International at Northrop Grumman’s Naval and Marine Systems Division.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has been awarded a contract to supply navigation radar systems for eight new U.S. Navy nuclear attack submarines. The firm, fixed-price contract, valued at $20.9m, was awarded to Sperry Marine by Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. The contract calls for Sperry Marine to produce and deliver eight AN/BPS-16(v)5 radar sets to be installed on eight Virginia-class Block III submarines. The scope of work will include manufacturing, fabrication, assembly and testing. The AN/BPS-16(v)5 is an advanced submarine navigation radar and electronic navigation system, which provides naval electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS-N) capability running on Sperry Marine’s Voyage Management System (VMS) software.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit is marking a major milestone in the history of the company’s leadership in radar technology with the celebration this year of the 60th anniversary of the launch of its first marine radar. Sperry Marine’s heritage in marine radar dates back to August 1949, when the U.K.-based Decca Marine Group introduced its first commercial marine radar product, the Type 159. The Decca brand product lines later became incorporated with Sperry Marine under Northrop Grumman ownership. DaCunha noted that the company has sold more than 150,000 marine radar sets in almost every country of the world since the first product appeared in 1949.

Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has received type approval from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping for its VisionMaster FT(TM) family of marine radars. The type-approval certificates apply to Sperry Marine X-band and S-band Cat 1 and 2 models, including chart-radar and radar-only versions for high-speed and standard craft. The Russian type approval signifies that the products comply with the 2008 edition of "RS Rules for the Equipment of Sea-Going Ships" and International Maritime Organization Resolutions A.694(17) and MSC.191(79). "We recognize the growing importance of the Polar Regions for the marine transportation industry, and we have designed our products to function under extremely cold weather conditions," said J.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has announced that the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has approved the latest upgrade to its electronic navigation software for U.S. Navy submarines. Version 8.3 of Sperry Marine’s Voyage Management System (VMS) was approved for submarines by the CNO following an extensive certification testing program carried out by engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Port Hueneme, Virginia Beach detachment. VMS is the standard naval electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS-N), which is being deployed across the Navy’s fleet of surface ships and submarines.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) officially opened its new U.K. technical support centre to provide service, repair and maintenance for the company’s inertial navigation systems (INS) used in Royal Navy ships and submarines. The new naval gyrocompass support centre, located at Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine facility in New Malden, U.K., contains a full repair and calibration workshop to support NATO ship INS (SINS) installed on Royal Navy surface warships and attack submarines. Sperry Marine is under contract with the U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide ongoing in-service support for these systems. The event was attended by Northrop Grumman executives, as well as MoD officials and local political leaders.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has been awarded type approval for its electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS) by the U.K. certification authority, QinetiQ. The type-approval certificate was granted for Sperry Marine’s VisionMaster FT ECDIS products, following tests to ensure conformance with the new International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) performance standards IEC 61174 Edition 3 and IEC 62288. The new performance standards came into effect Jan. 1, 2009 in accordance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) recommendation MSC.232(82). “The QinetiQ type approval assures our customers they are navigating with state-of-the-art equipment meeting the latest IMO and IEC specifications with our VisionMaster FT ECDIS products…

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been chosen to provide the Platform Management System (PMS) for the next Royal Navy Astute-Class submarine, HMS Audacious. BAE Systems has selected Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit as the preferred bidder to supply the PMS for the fourth Astute-Class submarine. The PMS will control and monitor platform machinery and on-board systems. Based on Sperry Marine’s innovative approach to configuring commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software to meet exacting military and commercial applications, the PMS for Astute Boat 4 will reduce costs and minimise programme risk. Supported by Sperry Marine’s programme management expertise…

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Sperry Marine business unit has been selected to supply the Machinery Control System (MCS) for LHA 6, the first of a new generation of large-deck amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding awarded Sperry Marine a contract valued at approximately $47.6 million. LHA 6 is being built at the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Miss. auxiliary systems. The network will include more than 50 data acquisition units at strategic locations around the ship, as well as 25 operating consoles, 10 electric plant and propulsion plant controllers, and multiple redundant local-area network switches.

Litton Marine Systems announced that Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has granted type approval for the Vision 2100 ECDIS. The DNV type approval certifies that the Litton ECDIS complies with international specifications including that of IMO A.817 (19) and IEC 61174. "This is the first ECDIS to be type approved by DNV," stated J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president, sales and service. "We appreciate the support provided by SevenCs (Germany), our technical partner in achieving this milestone. The Litton system is also the first to meet the specific DNV requirements for full electronic backup for the ECDIS installation." "We are proud to be the first to receive DNV type approval," said DaCunha.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Sperry Marine business unit unveiled its next-generation marine navigation technology last week at the Sunborn Yacht Hotel in London. The new Sperry Marine family of navigation products, which will be marketed under the VisionMaster FT label, will be publicly launched at the Shipbuilding Machinery & Marine (SMM) Technology exhibition in Hamburg in September. “VisionMaster FT is a scalable family of solutions designed with an advanced PC-based Ethernet architecture offering easy upgradeability and built-in redundancy to meet the emerging requirements for shipboard navigation in the 21st century,” said J. Nolasco DaCunha, director of Sperry Marine Systems.

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced the introduction of a new generation of commercial navigation radars incorporating electronic charts. The new VisionMaster FT products are the first of a new series of highly integrated navigation solutions which are being developed by Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit at its worldwide commercial marine headquarters in New Malden, United Kingdom. The VisionMaster FT Chart Radar provides the navigator with a seamless integration of radar and chart functionality. Combining approved vector-format digital charts with the radar picture enhances situation awareness for watchstanders. The operator can select the desired density of chart information to be shown on the screen…