Royal Navy Grants Northrop Grumman Contracts

Northrop Grumman won a $15 million contract to supply six ship sets of machinery control and monitoring systems for the U.K.'s Type 45 "D" Class destroyer for the Royal Navy. The contract, awarded by BAE SYSTEMS Electronics, the Type 45 prime contractor, calls for Northrop Grumman to develop and deliver six platform management systems (PMS) for the Type 45 ships. The contract also includes options for life-cycle support, including maintenance, repair, spares management, equipment upgrades and training. The PMS is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system that provides machinery control and surveillance for the ships' main engines, auxiliaries and other systems, as well as damage surveillance and control functions. The primary function of the PMS is to enable shipboard personnel to access vital information on the status of platform systems and to safely control them from a common interface. The open architecture design of the PMS allows critical information to be gathered from the combat system as well as the integrated communications system and display it on the PMS workstations. The integration of this data provides accurate and consistent information across the functional boundaries of the ship, a capability that is vital to the crew of a modern warship. Marine Systems, a Northrop Grumman company, is working closely with Rockwell Automation, a leading industrial automation supplier, to provide the COTS-based solution. "The combination of our experience in marine machinery automation with Rockwell's strength in industrial controls was seen as key in winning the Type 45 competition," said John DeMaso, president-Marine Systems. The PMS contract further enhances Northrop Grumman's work on the Type 45's engine systems. In November 2000, a team led by Northrop Grumman and Rolls-Royce was selected to provide the marine gas turbines for the Type 45 Destroyer. Unlike conventional marine gas turbine engines, the WR-21 features a recuperator downstream of the power turbine that recovers energy from the exhaust gas to increase fuel efficiency. This translates into extended ship range for a given fuel capacity, more unrefueled time on-station, or reduced fuel storage requirements for a given range. This can provide more space for additional weapons payloads. "By selecting Northrop Grumman for both the engine and the PMS, the Royal Navy now has the latest and most innovative state-of-the-art technology in engine systems and monitoring platform performance," said George Perkins, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Command, Control, Communication, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance & Naval Systems division. "This win demonstrates the strength of the team we are building at Northrop Grumman to harness the human and technical capabilities of the corporation to pursue these advanced, complex systems programs." The Royal Navy's Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyers will enter service in 2007. The integrated electric-powered "D" class ships will replace Type 42 Class destroyers.