• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Budget: Spending decline on major UAS ends

  4th February 2015

  The FY 2016 budget request shows that the decline in spending on major unmanned aerial systems may have come to a halt. The proposed budget …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Budget: Fielding date of UCLASS pushed to 2023

  4th February 2015

  The US Navy’s carrier-based UAV programme has been given an extra three years for development, according to a navy budget official at the briefing of …

• Naval Warfare

  Northrop to deliver two LCS mission packages

  3rd February 2015

  The US Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to deliver two additional Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission packages, the company announced on 2 February. …

• Defence Helicopter

  Northrop to deliver five ALMDS pods to US Navy

  3rd February 2015

  Northrop Grumman will continue the production of AN/AES-1Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) under a new US Navy contract, the company said on 2 February. …

• Defence Helicopter

  Boeing awarded Indonesian AH-64E Apache contract

  27th January 2015

  Boeing has been awarded a contract to manufacture eight AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for Indonesia, according to a US DoD announcement on 26 January. This …

• Digital Battlespace

  Northrop to support ICBM subsystems

  20th January 2015

  The US Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract for the support of Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Ground Subsystems, the company reported …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Japan selects Hawkeye and Global Hawk aircraft

  20th January 2015

  Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft have been selected by Japan to enhance its intelligence, …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Global Hawk flies record mission hours

  9th January 2015

  According to a 7 January release by Northrop Grumman, its US Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk and other High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) Unmanned Aircraft …

• Land Warfare

  BAE wins US Army AMPV

  2nd January 2015

  The US Army’s Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV) programme has gone to BAE Systems after a long fought campaign against rival General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS). …

• Military Logistics

  MQ-8C Fire Scout flies from US Navy destroyer

  30th December 2014

  The MQ-8C Fire Scout UAS has flown from the US Navy guided-missile destroyer, USS Jason Dunham, off the Virginia coast on 16 December, Northrop Grumman …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  Republic of Korea buys four Global Hawks

  18th December 2014

  THE Department of Defense (DoD) has announced the US government has approved the sale of four Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawks to the …

• Digital Battlespace

  Raytheon awaits NGJ design reviews

  11th December 2014

  Raytheon is looking ahead to the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) and Critical Design Review (CDR) for the company’s Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) airborne electronic warfare …

• Uncrewed Vehicles

  US Navy receives first operational MQ-8C Fire Scout

  4th December 2014

  The first operational MQ-8C Fire Scout has been delivered to the US Navy by Northrop Grumman, the company announced on 3 December. The MQ-8C is …

• Digital Battlespace

  Japan to procure E-2D Hawkeye

  2nd December 2014

  Japan is expected to procure the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft following an announcement by the country’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) …

• Naval Warfare

  Sixth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft arrives in India

  26th November 2014

  The sixth P-8I maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) arrived at Naval Air Station Rajali in India on 24 November, with delivery from Boeing occurring on schedule, …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - HALE

  RQ-4 Global Hawk [Japan]

  Background Selection and contract award In 2015, Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawk UAS and E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft were selected by Japan ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton (1-4) [Australia]

  Background Three Contracted Units In June 2018, the Government provided Second Pass (Tranche 1) Approval to procure the first of six air vehicles, supporting systems and ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton (5-6) [Australia]

  Background Four Contracted Units In the summer of 2020, Northrop Grumman announced that the Australian Government provided $333 million for three MQ-4C Tritons and associated GCS. ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Marine Unmanned Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) (Contracted) [USMC]

  Background MUX umbrella Since 2016, the USMC has sought to acquire a UAV that can be deployed from a vessel, used for various missions, and ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  Long-Range Drones [Norway]

  Background Andøya Ambition On 3 April 2023, the Norwegian MoD released a statement confirming its plans for Andøya, the northernmost island in its Vesterålen archipelago. In addition to ...

• Military UAS - small

  AdvaNced airCraft Infrastructure-Less Launch And RecoverY (ANCILLARY) [US]

  Background Aims & Timeline As stated by DARPA, the ANCILLARY programme aims to develop and fly an X-plane that will provide a “leap-ahead” in long-endurance, VTOL-capable ...

• ISR/special mission

  E-6 TACAMO Recapitalisation Programme (E-130J) [USN]

  Programme Background The E-6 Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) Recapitalisation Programme (E-XX) provides for air vehicle replacement and mission systems modernization to augment and eventually ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  MQ-4C Triton [NATO]

  Background NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum During the July 2026 NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Türkiye, NATO announced that Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Marine Unmanned Expeditionary Tactical Aircraft (MUX TACAIR) (Uncontracted) [USMC]

  Background MUX umbrella Since 2016, the USMC has sought to acquire a UAV that can be deployed from a vessel, used for various missions, and ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) [NATO]

  Background Purchase While NATO doesn’t have its own forces and depends on its allies, the alliance does have some of its own assets and equipment. In ...

• Bomber

  B-21 Raider [USA]

  Programme Background Development The US DoD is developing a new long-range bomber called the B-21 Raider, previously known as LRS-B. At least 100 units are ...

• Military UAS - small

  Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) (Increment 1) [USA]

  Programme Background Programme Objective The Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) was to provide a tactical ISTAR capability for US Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). It was ...

• Military UAS - HALE

  RangeHawk (RQ-4 Global Hawk) [US]

  Background Contract award Northrop Grumman announced in May 2026 that it had secured a $325.5 million contract from the US Army to develop the RangeHawk ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  MQ-25 Stingray (16-76) [USN]

  Background Initial requirements The programme looked different when it began. In 2013, the USN awarded four Preliminary Design Review (PDR) contracts to Boeing, General Atomics, ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) (Increment 2) [USAF]

  Background Increment 1 In January 2024, during the first increment of the USAF’s CCA effort, the USAF awarded contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics (GA-ASI), ...

Equipment Results - Defence Insight

• Military UAS - small

  ANCILLARY

  Northrop Grumman has developed a demonstrator tail-sitter UAV for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ANCILLARY programme. Northrop states its design is a cost-efficient, multiple-mission capable vehicle built ...

• Loitering munitions

  Jackal

  The Jackal is a turbojet loitering munition designed by Northrop Grumman in partnership with AeroVironment.  It features an open architecture that provides the capability to support ...

• Military - UUVs

  Manta Ray

  Manta Ray is an uncrewed underwater vessel (UUV) developed by Northrop Grumman.

• Major networking projects

  IBCS

  The Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) is a C2 system designed to integrate current and future sensors. The system also improves ...

• ISR/special mission

  Firebird

  Manufactured by Northrop Grumman, the Firebird is a unique platform that features different cockpit configurations. This feature allows the Firebird to be configured as either an uncrewed ...

• Air: Integrated cockpit systems

  H-1 Family of Avionics

  Northrop Grumman produces a family of avionics for Bell H-1-series helicopters.

• Military UAS - MALE

  YFQ-48A Talon Blue

  The YFQ-48A Talon Blue is a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) from Northrop Grumman and Scaled Composites. Unveiled in December 2025, the system is reportedly lighter ...

• Air-to-surface missiles

  Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW)

  The Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) is an air-to-ground weapon that will provide strike capability to defeat rapidly relocatable targets as part of an enemy’s anti-access/area denial ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  Model 437

  Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, unveiled the Model 437 in September 2021. The conceptual UAS is derived from a Model 401, or Son of Ares. It ...

• Air: aerial targets

  BQM-74F

  Building on the BQM-74E, the BQM-74F aerial target was developed by Northrop Grumman under a USN contract. Introduced in 2005, it has a new airframe ...

• Air: AEW/fire control radar

  AN/APG-80

  The AN/APG-80 is an X-band active electronically scanned array radar system with approximately 1,000 transmit/receive modules, designed for continuous search and multi-target tracking capabilities in ...

• Guided munitions

  Viper Strike

  The GBU-44/B Viper Strike is an air-launched precision-guided munition (PGM) equipped with a relatively small-shaped charge warhead. It has been optimised for employment in urban ...

• Military UAS - MALE

  X-47B UCAS

  The X-47B is a tailless, strike fighter-sized unmanned aircraft, which was developed as part of the USN's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration project. The aircraft ...

• Bomber

  B-21 Raider

  The B-21 Raider is a strategic stealth bomber aircraft being developed by Northrop Grumman to succeed the B-1 and B-2 fleets in the USAF service. ...

• Cannons

  30/40mm Mk44 Bushmaster

  The 30mm/40mm Mk44 Bushmaster automatic cannon is a next-generation chain gun weapon in widespread use. The weapon has been designed for system simplicity, external power, ...