1 Vol. 3, No. 1 January 2011 - Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

PRODUCTS AND
PROGRAM NEWS
JOHN VOSILLA
The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Package
product line doesn’t seem to fit within an
organization named Aerospace Systems. Don’t
be fooled. Mission packages, under the concept
“mission modularity,” are a natural fit for the sector,
as Marc DeBlasio, director of the LCS Mission
Package Integrator program, explains.
Q: For our readers, what are mission packages
and what does your team do?
A: Mission packages are the warfighting
components of the Navy’s LCS. The LCS is a flexible,
new surface combat vehicle designed to be
adaptable for changes in warfare. Flexibility comes
from the mission packages. A mission package is
a group of sensors, weapons, vehicles, computing,
communications and support equipment (e.g.,
International Standards Organization containers)
with associated personnel. The Navy’s laboratories
built the initial prototypes for mine warfare (MIW),
surface warfare (SUW) and anti-submarine warfare.
In production we’ll produce support elements,
integrate modules into a package, install them on
the ship and support them from a Mission Package
Support Facility. We prepare mission packages for
ship embarkation/debarkation depending on the
required mission. This past September we were
awarded the production contract for the initial
three production packages: one MIW and two SUW.
Q: How did Northrop Grumman get into this
business?
A: When Northrop Grumman purchased
Shipbuilding, the company realized it wasn’t doing
weapon systems integration. Aerospace Systems,
largely a complex aircraft integrator, was perfectly
positioned to take on a ship integrator role. If we
could integrate things on airplanes, why couldn’t
we integrate things on ships? So we embarked on
opportunities in the Navy’s latest ship designs like
the CVN-21, the DDG-1000 and the LCS opportunity.
We were the dark horse against Lockheed Martin
and Raytheon, the giants of ship integration. We
beat them.
Q: As a business entity, what do you feel is its
significance to the sector and the company?
A: Traditionally, our sector is about airplanes and
spacecraft. In reality, what we’re really good at is
pulling multiple pieces together in a platform to
create a warfighting capability. With mission packages,
we are building upon that and expanding our base to
non-traditional customers and platforms. The Long
Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle program is
similar: modular payloads on an airship for the Army.
Q: List some of your team’s key accomplishments.
A: We have a great team, and here are a few. Of
the eight award fees to date, we’ve averaged greater
than 95 percent, with five 100 percent award fees.
Our Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting
System [ratings] for the last four years have been
nothing but dark blue and purple. I mentioned our
first production contract in September. We stood up
in October 2009 the new Mission Package Support
Facility that we operate for the Navy, for which
we received a value-engineering award from the
Department of Defense. We supported the early
deployment of the USS Freedom earlier this year and
supported the Navy’s successful, first mission package
swap-out tests in September.
Q: You’re chairing a NATO committee on mission
modularity. What does that mean for NATO and for
Northrop Grumman?
A: NATO understands the diminishing size of
naval fleets and wants to investigate modularity for
naval ships to make those ships more flexible and
increase their utility. Consequently, they’re trying to
apply modularity to their large deck ships for several
non-military missions. Our study group is evaluating
concepts for humanitarian assistance disaster relief,
harbor security and counter-piracy mission packages.
It’s a one-year study. Eight nations and 25 people
from 17 companies are participating. The committee
expects a follow-on study where we actually build a
mission package or part of one for NATO. It should
position Northrop Grumman to be part of the team
that produces mission packages for NATO and its
coalition partners.
8 Aerospace Now January 2011
January 2011 Aerospace Now 9
Marc DeBlasio