US Navy

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(Jan. 26, 2013) Huntington Ingalls Industries celebrated significant progress today as the 555-metric ton island was lowered onto the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. The 60-foot long, 30-foot wide island was the 452nd lift of the nearly 500 total lifts needed to complete the aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy Huntington Ingalls Industries/Released)

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The high speed vessel Swift (HSV-2) gets underway with a tethered TIF-25K Aerostat in Key West, Fla., April 24, 2013, to conduct a series of capabilities tests to determine if the Aerostat could participate in Operation Martillo, a joint, interagency and multinational collaborative effort to deny transnational criminal organizations air and maritime access to the littoral regions of the Central American isthmus.



The high speed vessel Swift (HSV-2) gets underway with a tethered TIF-25K Aerostat in Key West, Fla., April 24, 2013, to conduct a series of capabilities tests to determine if the Aerostat could participate in Operation Martillo, a joint, interagency and multinational collaborative effort to deny transnational criminal organizations air and maritime access to the littoral regions of the Central American isthmus.

Navy Laser Weapon System (LaWS) PR Video

LPD 23


USS Chosin (CG 65)


cockpit of a SH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter


MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter


SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2013) The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74)


SAN DIEGO (April 29, 2013) The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53)

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U.S. Navy launches new squadron of manned, unmanned helicopters

(Reuters) - The U.S. Navy introduced its first squadron that combines combat helicopters with unmanned aerial vehicles at an air base near San Diego on Thursday, calling the approach the future of warfare.

The squadron of about 140 sailors, called the Magicians, will work off coastal combat ships that are smaller and faster than destroyers and aircraft carriers.

"We've been using multimillion dollar destroyers to chase Somali pirates," Admiral David Buss said. "This approach is designed for near-shore environment where our current experience shows us we're most likely to encounter threats."

The new approach combines MH-60 Romeo helicopters the Navy currently uses with the MQ-8 Fire Scout, a Northrop Grumman-built drone that looks and launches like a helicopter.

Where the helicopters are designed and built for antisubmarine and surface warfare, as well as search and rescue, the Fire Scout will be equipped and used for surveillance, target acquisition and relaying information to its controllers, at least for now.

The unmanned aircraft is controlled by two "pilots" on the ground or on a ship up to 110 miles away. It can stay in the air for at least eight hours, compared to the helicopter's maximum air time of 3.3 hours.

The Navy has been testing the Fire Scout since 2007 and deploying it since 2009, using it for counter-narcotics operations and in Afghanistan. In 2012, two of the drones crashed in separate incidents, and the Navy briefly grounded its Fire Scout fleet. Another was shot down over Libya in 2012.

The strengths of the Fire Scout lie in how long it can monitor situations, Buss told a news conference.

"Helicopters can't stay airborne as long as the Fire Scout," he said. "With the Fire Scout's endurance of up to eight hours, the helicopter crew can return refuel, rearm and re-man while the Fire Scout maintains contact."

Buss acknowledged that the Navy doesn't have a playbook for how to mix manned and unmanned flying warfare.

"The ink has not dried on any set of criteria yet," he said. "As with any new systems and any new technology, we work through the bugs from early on."

Northrop Grumman is looking forward to seeing how the Navy actually uses the Fire Scout and already has an upgraded version in the pipeline, according to Jim Zortman, sector vice president of global logistics and operational support.

"We put it in the hands of these smart, young sailors and they figure out ways to operate it that we never thought of," Zortman said. "They take some little thing we barely noticed and do something amazing with it while something we paid a lot of attention to, they'll barely notice or use at all."

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Cynthia Johnston and Cynthia Osterman)

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(May 6, 2013) An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator is lowered on an aircraft elevator on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)

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Budget squeeze forces Navy to cut flying hours


CORRECTION: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the homeport location of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.


NORFOLK

Earlier this year, while sounding the alarm on looming federal budget cuts, the Navy warned it would be forced to ground four of its 10 air wings - a short-term money-saver that top brass said would degrade pilot skills and cost three times more in the long run.

The service has dialed back on those warnings, and, thanks to an infusion of cash from Congress in March, the Navy believes it can avoid shutting down any air wings, which would have involved wrapping multimillion-dollar fighter jets, helicopters and other carrier-based planes in shrink-wrap and putting them in storage.

Instead, Rear Adm. Ted Branch told reporters Monday, his command is dealing with sequestration by drastically reducing flying hours to a level known in aviation circles as a "tactical hard deck."

"We only have one really big lever to pull in Naval Air Force Atlantic, and that's in flight hours," said Branch, who oversees six East Coast-based aircraft carriers and the air wings that fly with them. An air wing typically consists of eight squadrons and about 65 aircraft.

To save money, Branch said, flight hours are being cut to the minimum needed to maintain baseline safety standards and efficient aircraft maintenance. The drawdown in flying hours is expected to save the Navy $2 million per month, per air wing, Branch said.

Plans call for cutting flying hours at four air wings. California-based Carrier Air Wing 2 was reduced to the "tactical hard deck" level last month after the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln entered Newport News Shipbuilding for refueling and overhaul.

Carrier Air Wing 7 will be the first East Coast-based air wing to feel the budget pinch once it returns this summer from deployment with the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Instead of averaging 25 hours in the cockpit each month, the air wing's F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet aviators at Oceana Naval Air Station will be limited to 11 hours per month, Branch said.

Pilots will spend more time in simulators, he said, but the reduction of time in the air means some pilots will fall behind in career milestones tied to training hours. The simulators are realistic, Branch said, "but it's just not the same as the airplane."

Carrier Air Wing 1, assigned to the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, would be next in line for reduced flying hours, Branch said. The fourth air wing with reduced flying hours is Carrier Air Wing 9, attached to the Bremerton, Wash.-based aircraft carrier John C. Stennis.

The two-star admiral said ramping up flying hours before deployments will likely cost the Navy more in the long run, but he didn't have specific cost estimates.

For now, no air wings have been targeted for a full shutdown, but Branch left that as a possibility, depending on funding and operational demands abroad.

http://hamptonroads.com

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The Navy’s X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator

NAVAIR X 47B Completes First Shore Based Arrested Landing



X-47B First Land-Based Catapult Launch


X-47B Loaded Onto USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

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US Navy releases presidential helicopter RFP

The US Navy's Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has released a request for proposal (RFP) for a new VXX presidential helicopter to replace the service's ageing Sikorsky VH-3D and VH-60N fleet.

As expected, NAVAIR has adopted a risk-averse development strategy in the wake of the failed attempt in 2004 to substantially modify the Lockheed Martin/AgustaWestland VH-71A Kestrel with a new airframe, engine, drive system and tail rotor.

"Offerors will be highly encouraged to propose an existing, in-production helicopter platform from which the VXX will be derived," a NAVAIR document reads.

"It is the Government's desire to hold development to an absolute minimum on the VXX Program and focus the program effort on integration of mature subsystems on a mature platform."

While NAVAIR says that minor changes to whatever platform is selected are inevitable, "change to major components such as drive train, rotors, engines and basic structure is highly discouraged." As such, the navy is encouraging potential contractors to avoid proposing immature technology.

NAVAIR also says that any proposed aircraft should already be certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or another civil airworthiness authority with a bilateral agreement with the FAA. A US military certification or a clear and imminent path to gaining such a certification is also acceptable.

NAVAIR's Presidential helicopter programme office is working with the Naval Air Warfare Center - Aircraft Division (NAWC-AD) at Saint Inigoes, Maryland, to assemble the aircraft's executive communications suite. The contractor will have to integrate that suite onto the aircraft, the navy document says.

The document also states that the contractor will have responsibility for furnishing the cabin interior and the overall performance of the VXX system.

AgustaWestland is expected to offer the AW101, while Sikorsky will likely bid the S-92. Bell-Boeing may offer a variant of the V-22 Osprey. The winning airframer would be expected to deliver six developmental helicopters, nine low rate initial production aircraft and eight full rate production aircraft over a total of about eight years.

www.flightglobal.com

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PACIFIC OCEAN (May 3, 2013) An Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician (EOD) conducts a fast-rope exercise aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88).

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GROTON, Conn. (May 3, 2013) The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Dallas (SSN 700) departs Naval Submarine Base New London for a scheduled underway

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PACIFIC OCEAN (May 4, 2013) Final checkers from the Mighty Shrikes of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 94 look over an F/A-18C Hornet before it launches off the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).

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PACIFIC OCEAN (May 6, 2013) An E-2C Hawkeye from the Sun Kings of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 116 prepares to launch from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70).

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U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY (May 7, 2013) A pair of F/A-18F Super Hornets assigned to the Jolly Rogers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 embarked aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)

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USS Anchorage (LPD 23) Commissioned in Alaska

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Un drone de l’US Navy à propulsion électrique a volé pendant plus de 48 heures
14 mai 2013 – 13:07



Afin de frapper plus profondément en territoire ennemi, l’US Air Force envisage d’augmenter d’une dizaine d’heures l’autonomie de ses drones MALE (Moyenne Altitude Longue Endurance) MQ-9 Reaper, laquelle est actuellement de 30 heures lorsque cet appareil est équipé pour des missions ISR (surveillance et renseignement) et d’environ 23 heures lorsqu’il est armé de missiles Hellfire.

“Comme nous nous retirons d’Afghanistan et que nous avons quitté l’Irak, le nombre de bases disponibles est devenu un problème. Or, le pivot dans le Pacifique ainsi que le regain d’intérêt pour l’Afrique nécessitent des drones capables de parcourir de plus longues distances”, a expliqué Chris Pehrson, un responsable du constructeur General Atomics, lors d’un entretien accordé en mars dernier à Defense News.

Ainsi, étant donné que les Etats-Unis ne comptent pas disposer de bases permanentes en Afghanistan après la fin de mission de la Force internationale d’assistance à la sécurité (ISAF) prévue en décembre 2014, il sera désormais plus compliqué de frapper les éléments d’al-Qaïda basés au Pakistan.

D’où l’intérêt de disposer de drones Reaper ER (Extended Range). La solution pour améliorer l’autonomie de ces appareils consiste à allonger leurs ailes ainsi qu’à leur ajouter des réservoirs de carburant amovibles.

Mais il y a sans doute mieux à faire et nul doute que les travaux de l’US Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) seront utiles.

En novembre 2009, ce centre de recherches de la marine américaine avait fait voler le drone Ion Tiger pendant 26 heures et 2 minutes. Jusque-là, rien d’extraordinaire si ce n’est que système de propulsion électrique de cet appareil était alimenté par une pile à combustible.

Cette dernière produit de l’electricité par l’oxydation sur une électrode d’hydrogène (combustible réducteur) et la réduction simultanée, sur une autre électrode, d’un oxydant, en l’occurrence, l’oxygène. Pour que cette réaction chimique puisse se faire, il faut un catalyseur, qui est en général du platine. Cette technologie appliquée à un drone permet de réduire la signature radar de ce dernier et de le rendre plus silencieux tout en présentant des avantages pour la protection de l’environnement.

Depuis, le NRL a grandement amélioré les performances du Ion Tiger étant donné que, en avril dernier, cet appareil a effectué un vol de 48 heures et 1 minute, en utilisant de l’hydrogène liquide (LH2).

“L’hydrogène liquide couplée à la technologie des piles à combustible permet d’élargir l’utilité des petits systèmes sans pilote en augmentant considérablement leur endurance tout en offrant tous les avantages de la propulsion électrique”, a expliqué le Dr Karen Swider-Lyons, responsable du programme au NRL.

Cette technologie n’est pour l’instant valable que pour les appareils aux dimensions réduites : le Ion Tiger mesure environ 1,7 mètres de long pour une envergure de 2,5 mètres et peut embarquer 2,5 kg de charge utile. L’on est donc bien loin des caractéristiques d’un Reaper… Mais Boeing, par exemple, a dans ses cartons un projet d’avion “hybride”, appelé Sugar Volt, devant fonctionner avec des piles à combustibles et du kerozène. De là à imaginer une application pour les drones, il n’y a qu’un pas.

Photo : Drone Ion Tiger (c) NRL

http://www.opex360.com/

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ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 14, 2013) Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Handling) 3rd Class Joshua Rabarabrokate salutes an X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator aircraft aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77).

le film stealth en marche

Yakuza a écrit:

le film stealth en marche

plus le laser testé dernièrement ..et voilà la guerre des étoiles ...ils prennent un virage à grande vitesse ..le monde n'a qu'à se tenir

US Navy - X-47B UCAS First Carrier-Based Launch From USS George H.W. Bush Nuclear Aircraft Carrier CVN 77

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UCAS Touch and Go Landing

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SAN DIEGO (May 14, 2013) Sailors assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron (CRS) 1 conduct training in small boat defensive tactics in San Diego bay. The Coastal Riverine Force is a core Navy capability that provides port and harbor security, high value asset protection and maritime security operations in coastal and inland waterways



NORTH ARABIAN SEA (May 13, 2013) A Sailor signals an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Jolly Rogers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 103 onto a catapult on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). Dwight D. Eisenhower is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility promoting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and support missions as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.



PACIFIC OCEAN (May 15, 2013) A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B interceptor missile is launched from the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) during a Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Navy test in the mid-Pacific. The SM-3 Block 1B successfully intercepted a target missile that had been launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands in Kauai, Hawaii. Lake Erie detected and tracked the target with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar. The event was the third consecutive successful intercept test of the SM-3 Block IB missile.



ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 17, 2013) An X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator prepares to execute a touch and go landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). This is the first time any unmanned aircraft has completed a touch and go landing at sea. George H.W. Bush is conducting training operations in the Atlantic Ocean.



ATLANTIC OCEAN (May 14, 2013) An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator launches from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). George H.W. Bush is the first aircraft carrier to successfully catapult launch an unmanned aircraft from its flight deck.

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Multimedia Release -- Submarine Minnesota (SSN 783) Successfully Completes First Sea Trials


NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced that the newest Virginia-class submarine, Minnesota (SSN 783), successfully completed alpha sea trials today. Alpha trials are the boat's first round of at-sea tests and evaluations. Minnesota is being built at HII's Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division.

www.globenewswire.com

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Des dauphins découvrent une torpille du 19e siècle au large de Coronado


Le US Navy Marine Mammal Program a pour but d’apprendre aux dauphins à détecter des mines sous-marines (Photo: Archives/Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Scott/US Navy)

C’est à quelques kilomètres du musée naval USS Midway et non loin de l’Hôtel del Coronado, qu’une équipe de la US Navy a découvert un véritable bijou militaire: une torpille du genre qui était déployée à la fin du 19e siècle, et considérée à l’époque comme une merveille technologique.

La torpille dite Howell a en fait été découvert par… les dauphins qui sont formés par la marine américaine pour trouver des objets sous-marins, y compris des mines, que la technologie à un milliard $ n’est pas capable de détecter.

Selon Ed Budzyna, un porte-parole du Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, la marine américaine a fait appel à toute une ménagerie d’animaux depuis la création du programme US Navy marine mammal program dans les années 1960: requins, raies, orques, baleines pilotes et phoques.

Parmi les 100 animaux actuellement dans le programme basé à San Diego (Californie), seuls les lions de mer et les dauphins sont «opérationnels», ce qui signifie prêts à être déployés dans une situation de combat.

Le sonar naturel d’un dauphin reste encore bien supérieur à tout dispositif utilisé par l’armée. Ces mammifères marins sont en effet capables d’envoyer des ondes sonores et de «lire» dans les échos qui rebondissent.

Quant aux lions de mer, ils ont une excellente vision nocturne et sont capables de dire de quelle direction proviennent des sons sous-marins.


Une torpille Howell exposée au Naval Undersea Museum, dans l’État de Washingston (Photo: Archives/US Navy)

Même si elle n’est pas aussi connue que la Gatling et le char Sherman, la torpille Howell a été saluée comme une percée majeure lorsque les États-Unis était en forte concurrence pour la domination des océans. C’était la première torpille qui pouvait vraiment suivre une piste sans laisser de sillage et écraser une cible, selon les responsables de la Navy.

Seulement une cinquantaine de ces torpilles ont été réalisés entre 1870 et 1889 par une société du Rhode Island avant l’arrivée d’une copie améliorée par un rival.

C’est en 1870 que le capitaine de corvette américain John Adams Howell perfectionna la torpille Whitehead en remplaçant la propulsion à air comprimé par l’énergie accumulée dans un volant d’inertie lancé à 10 000 tours par minute avant l’envoi de la torpille. Outre une discrétion considérablement accrue au niveau visuel et sonore, l’effet gyroscopique du volant garantissait à l’engin une trajectoire rigoureusement rectiligne. Au cours d’essais comparatifs menée par l’US Navy, la torpille Howell construite par la société Hotchkiss obtint 95 % de tirs au but contre 37 % pour le modèle Whitehead.

Jusqu’à tout récemment, seule une torpille Howell avait été retrouvée. Elle est d’ailleurs exposée au Naval Undersea Museum, à Keyport (Washington).

«Considérant ce qui était fait avant que l’électricité ne soit fourni aux ménages américains, la torpille [Howell] était assez sophistiqué pour l’époque», a déclaré Christian Harris, directeur des opérations pour la division biosciences du Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.

Des dauphins garde des bases de sous-marins américains dans les États de Géorgie et de Washington. Cet automne, ils seront déployés pour une mission de chasse aux mines au large de la Croatie.

Lorsqu’un dauphin nommé Ten a fait surface après une plongée en eau peu profonde le mois dernier et a touché l’avant du bateau, les spécialistes de la Marine ont été interloqué. «Il a été positif dans un endroit que nous ne nous attendions pas», a déclaré Mike Rothe, qui dirige le programme de mammifères marins.

Une semaine plus tard, un dauphin nommé Spetz a fait la même chose, dans la même zone. Cette fois, le dauphin a reçu l’ordre de placer un marqueur sur l’objet.

Des plongeurs de la Marine, puis des techniciens d’explosifs et munitions ont examiné l’objet, qui était en deux morceaux, et ont alors déterminé que les années l’avaient rendu inerte. Sur une pièce était inscrit «USN n° 24.»

Les morceaux de torpille ont été levées à la surface et emmenés dans une base de la Marine de nettoyage et d’attendre l’expédition de l’histoire navale et de commandement du patrimoine, situé au Navy Yard Washington.

Les dauphins ont trouvé des choses inattendues dans le passé, y compris une mine en forme de casier à homard lors d’une mission au large du Canada avec la Marine royale canadienne.

«Nous n’avons jamais trouvé quelque chose comme ça», a déclaré Mike Rothe, sa voix pleine d’admiration pour les mammifères marins. «Jamais».


http://www.45enord.ca/2013/05/des-dauphins-decouvrent-une-torpille-du-19e-siecle-au-large-de-coronado/

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NAVAIR requests data on another multi-stage target
By Richard Scott
5/22/2013
The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has begun a market and technology survey for a potential Multi-Stage Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Target while continuing work with ATK to resolve problems affecting the existing GQM-173A Multi-Stage Supersonic Target (MSST) programme.

The new request for information (RfI), released by NAVSEA's Aerial Target and Decoy Systems Program Office (PMA-208), details top-level performance requirements essentially identical to those set out for the original MSST competition.

PMA-208 said it was "reviewing the requirement and performing market research" as part of the MSST re-planning effort.

ATK was awarded a USD96.8 million, 50-month system development and demonstration (SDD) contract by the US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in August 2008 for the design, development, integration and test of the GQM-173A aerial target system, comprising a two-stage unmanned aerial target, a ground launcher and associated support equipment. Under the management of PMA-208, the MSST is being developed to meet the US Navy's requirement for a two-stage target surrogate representative of the Russian 3M54 Klub (NATO designation SS-N-27B 'Sizzler') anti-ship cruise missile.


http://www.janes.com/products/janes/defence-security-report.aspx?ID=1065979437&channel=defence

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Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman, U.S. Navy Complete Triton Unmanned Aircraft's First Flight

2013-05-22T13:15:00-0700




PALMDALE, Calif. – May 22, 2013 – The Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)-built MQ-4C Triton high-altitude unmanned aircraft successfully completed its first flight today from the company's manufacturing facility in Palmdale.

A photo accompanying this release can be found at http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=18898.

Triton is specially designed to fly surveillance missions up to 24 hours at altitudes of more than 10 miles – allowing coverage out to 2,000 nautical miles. The advanced suite of sensors can detect and automatically classify different types of ships.

"First flight represents a critical step in maturing Triton's systems before operationally supporting the Navy's maritime surveillance mission around the world," said Capt. James Hoke, Triton program manager with Naval Air Systems Command. "Replacing our aging surveillance aircraft with a system like Triton will allow us to monitor ocean areas significantly larger with greater persistence."

A Navy and Northrop Grumman flight test team conducted about a 1.5-hour flight that started at 7:10 a.m. from Palmdale.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor to the Navy's MQ-4C Triton Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program.

"Triton is the most advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance [ISR] unmanned aircraft system ever designed for use across vast ocean areas and coastal regions," said Mike Mackey, Northrop Grumman Triton UAS deputy program director. "Through a cooperative effort with the Navy and our industry partners, we successfully demonstrated the flight control systems that allow Triton to operate autonomously. We couldn't be prouder of the entire team for this achievement."

Additional flight tests will take place from Palmdale to mature the system before being flown to the main flight test facility at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., later this year.

In 2008, Northrop Grumman was awarded a systems development and demonstration contract to build two aircraft and test them in preparation for operational missions.

The Navy's program of record calls for 68 Tritons to be built.

Triton carries a variety of ISR sensor payloads that allow military commanders to gather high-resolution imagery, use radar to detect targets, and provide airborne communications and information sharing capabilities to military units across long distances.

At 130.9 feet, Triton has a wingspan larger than the world's most common commercial airliner, the Boeing 737. Combined with an efficient engine and other aerodynamic design features, Triton can fly 11,500 miles without refueling.

Northrop Grumman's Triton industry team includes Aurora Flight Sciences, BAE Systems, Curtis-Wright Corporation, L3 Communications, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Vought Aircraft Industries.

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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OKINAWA, Japan (May 18, 2013) The race team from the Headquarters Company of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 5 cruises down a hill in a hand crafted banana box car on Camp Shields during a modified soap box derby. The event was part of the deployment training for NMCB-5. NMCB-5 is supporting Navy and joint forces throughout the U.S. Pacific Command. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John P. Curtis/Released)