Brenda Marie Rivers
Northrop Grumman demonstrated seabed warfare systems and the multidomain integration of unmanned platforms during a three-day exhibition of potential U.S. Navy technologies held last month in Newport, R.I.
The company said Wednesday it launched sonobuoys from an autonomous Fire Scout surrogate helicopter and deployed micro synthetic aperture sonar on a man-portable unmanned underwater vehicle as part of the 2018 Advanced Naval Training Exercise.
The event also featured above-surface and sub-surface communications platforms equipped with cross-domain status, detection and tracking features.
Other Northrop offerings showcased at the exercise were automated target recognition technologies designed for real-time identification of mine-like objects via the uSAS payload.
Alan Lytle, vice president of Northrop’s undersea systems segment, said the integration of unmanned and autonomous systems into the battlespace works to reduce personnel risk.
The company collaborated with Physical Optics Corp., Ultra Electronics USSI, Hydroid, Optimum Solutions and Silvus on the demonstration of multiple platforms in a low-risk environment.
