Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems was created by Northrop Grumman's

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...

 acquisition of Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group in 1996. The Electronic Systems sector is a leading designer, developer, and manufacturer of a wide variety of advanced defense electronics and systems. The division has 120 locations worldwide, including 72 international offices, and approximately 24,000 employees. Accounting for 20% of company sales in 2005, it is the single largest sector (business unit) in the Corporation.

Organization

Headquartered in Linthicum

Linthicum, Maryland

Linthicum is a census-designated place and an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,539 at the 2000 census. It is the approximate location of Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

 (about a mile away from BWI Airport, near Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

), Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems is organized thus:

• Advanced Concepts & Technologies
• Aerospace Systems
• Naval & Marine Systems
• Defensive Systems
• Navigation Systems
• Government Systems
• Space & ISR Systems

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems provides airborne radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 systems, secondary surveillance systems, inertial navigation systems and sensors, electronic warfare systems, precision weapons, air traffic control systems, air defense systems, communications systems, space systems, marine systems, naval systems, integrated avionics systems, and postal automation and information systems.

Key products include AESA fire control radars for the F-16

F-16 Fighting Falcon

The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

, F-22

F-22 Raptor

The Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 Raptor is a single-seat, twin-engine fifth-generation supermaneuverable fighter aircraft that uses stealth technology. It was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but has additional capabilities that include ground attack, electronic warfare, and signals...

 and F-35 fighter aircraft, as well as the Longbow Fire Control Radar for the AH-64 Apache

AH-64 Apache

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is a four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement, and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. The Apache was developed as Model 77 by Hughes Helicopters for the United States Army's Advanced Attack Helicopter program to replace the...

 helicopter. Other principal products include the AWACS

Airborne Warning And Control System

Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS, may refer to:* E-3 Sentry, the aircraft developed under the USAF's "Airborne Warning and Control System" program...

 radar, the Boeing 737

Boeing 737

The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...

-based Wedgetail

Boeing Wedgetail

The Boeing 737 AEW&C is a twin-engine airborne early warning and control aircraft. It is lighter than the 707-based Boeing E-3 Sentry, and mounts a fixed, electronically scanned, rather than a rotating, radar antenna. It was designed for the Royal Australian Air Force under "Project Wedgetail"...

 MESA airborne early warning and control system, Joint STARS

E-8 Joint STARS

The Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System is a battle management and command and control aircraft of the United States Air Force...

 air-to-ground surveillance radar sensor, the Longbow Hellfire missile, the ALQ-135 radar jammer for the F-15 Eagle

F-15 Eagle

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter designed by McDonnell Douglas to gain and maintain air superiority in aerial combat. It is considered among the most successful modern fighters with over 100 aerial combat victories with no losses in dogfights...

, ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming Receiver for the EA-18G Growler and EA-6B ICAP III Prowler, tactical military radars, countrywide air defense systems, Directional Infrared Countermeasures, sophisticated undersea warfare systems, and naval propulsion and power generation systems.

History

Electronic Systems' direct roots date to 1938, when Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Westinghouse Electric (1886)

Westinghouse Electric was an American manufacturing company. It was founded in 1886 as Westinghouse Electric Company and later renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation by George Westinghouse. The company purchased CBS in 1995 and became CBS Corporation in 1997...

’s Radio Division moved to Baltimore, Maryland from Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 and Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. In 1939, Westinghouse more than doubled its manufacturing area in its Baltimore location to accommodate production of the then highly-secret SCR-270

SCR-270 radar

The SCR-270 was one of the first operational early warning radars. It was the U.S. Army's primary long-distance radar throughout World War II and was deployed around the world...

 aircraft warning radar. In 1941, an SCR-270 radar detected the December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

; its warnings went unheeded because of high-level uncertainty about the new technology's reliability. The first ground-based radar built for the Army Signal Corps, the SCR-270 proved to be the only model to stay in action throughout all of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. From 1941–1945 the Westinghouse Radio Division manufactured approximately 50 products during the war. Until 1942, most of this was radio equipment; later production shifted to radar products. Wartime production included ground-based and naval radio and radar, electronic fuses, and torpedoes. In 1953, the unit patented key technologies for Pulse-Doppler radar

Pulse-doppler radar

Pulse-Doppler is a 4D radar system capable of detecting both target 3D location as well as measuring radial velocity . It uses the Doppler effect to avoid overloading computers and operators as well as to reduce power consumption...

, making possible airborne systems that can detect both stationary and moving targets, determine range, and distinguish targets from background "clutter." Pulse-Doppler is the basis for all airborne radars in use today. By 1966, the division designed and developed a miniaturized black-and-white camera that captured images from the Project Apollo

Project Apollo

The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...

 Lunar Module that landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969. In 1967, The world's first solid-state radar, the AN/APQ-120 for the F-4 Phantom II

F-4 Phantom II

The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...

 fighter, was produced by the division. In 1974, the division began development of the AN/APG-66

AN/APG-66

The AN/APG-66 radar is a solid state medium range Pulse-doppler radar designed by Westinghouse for use in the F-16 Fighting Falcon and in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's C-550 Cessna Citation, US Navy P-3 Orion, and Piper PA-42 Cheyenne II's as well as the Small Aerostat Surveillance...

 radar for the F-16; to date the unit has produced over 6,000 radars for various versions of the F-16. In 1976, Westinghouse Electronic Systems delivered the first E-3 Sentry

E-3 Sentry

The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system developed by Boeing as the prime contractor. Derived from the Boeing 707, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, and is used by the United States Air Force , NATO, Royal Air Force , French Air Force...

 AWACS long-range airborne surveillance radar. In 1996, Westinghouse was selected to design, build and test the radar for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, what became the AN/APG-81.

Expansion within Northrop Grumman

Electronic Systems has been central to Northrop Grumman's aggressive merger and acquisition strategy since its own acquisition in 1996. Parts or all of the following companies or organizations are now part of the sector: Westinghouse Electronic Systems, California Microwave, Navia, Litton Industries

Litton Industries

Named after inventor Charles Litton, Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001.-History:...

Advanced Electronics division, Solystic SA, Xetron Corporation, Aerojet Corporation Electronics & Information Systems, and Fibersense Technology Corp. During the period from 1996 to 2005, Electronic Systems' annual sales increased from USD $2.3B to USD $6.6B through organic growth as well as acquisitions.