Pratt & Whitney Joins Northrop Grumman on Joint Unmanned Combat Air System Team

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Pratt & Whitney Joins Northrop Grumman on Joint Unmanned Combat Air System Team

Pratt & Whitney Joins Northrop Grumman on Joint Unmanned Combat Air System Team
Tuesday September 16, 1:20 pm ET


WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC - News) Integrated Systems sector today announced that Pratt & Whitney has joined the Northrop Grumman-led team competing for the Department of Defense's joint unmanned combat air system (J-UCAS) program.
The addition of Pratt & Whitney, a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of military aircraft engines, strengthens Northrop Grumman's efforts to design, develop and produce an unmanned combat air system that satisfies the operational requirements of both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force.

Northrop Grumman will produce two full-scale X-47B unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrators for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under phase IIB of the current naval UCAV technology demonstration program. The new UAVs will address Navy and Air Force objectives.

Pratt & Whitney will provide an integrated, advanced performance propulsion system for the X-47B demonstrators. The company joins Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. as a key member of Northrop Grumman's J-UCAS industry team.

"Pratt & Whitney's expertise in military aircraft engines adds another element of technical innovation to our J-UCAS team," said Scott Winship, Integrated Systems' J-UCAS program director. "Our three companies are already working together successfully on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and we will leverage that experience for DARPA, the Air Force and the Navy."

"Pratt & Whitney is excited about working again with Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin," said Kevin Farrell, general manager for Pratt & Whitney's J- UCAS effort. "We are confident that innovative approaches to integrating vehicle power and thermal management systems will offer significant benefits to the J-UCAS program."

On October 1, the Department of Defense plans to stand up a Joint Systems Management Office led by DARPA to manage the new J-UCAS program. The joint office will plan and execute a demonstration program that supports both Air Force and Navy emerging requirements.

Northrop Grumman's J-UCAS concept builds on the company's extensive experience with autonomous flight control, including thousands of flight hours by its combat-proven RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance system and the RQ-8 Fire Scout vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned system. Northrop Grumman is also working on the preliminary design phase of the unmanned combat armed rotorcraft (UCAR) program for DARPA and the U.S. Army. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, based in El Segundo, Calif., is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise.

Pratt & Whitney military engines are built and supported in facilities located in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia. Models include the F119 powering the F/A-22 Raptor; the F135 for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter; the F117 for the C-17 Globemaster III; the F100 for F-15 and F-16 fighters; the J52 for the EA-6B Prowler; the TF33 powering AWACS, Joint STARS, B-52, C-141 and KC-135 aircraft; the PT6 for T- 6A, C-12, T-34C and UH-1N aircraft; and the JT15 for the T-1A, UC-35A, and the Pegasus UCAV.

Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies (NYSE: UTX - News) company, is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines.
 
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