B-2 WORKERS AT EDWARDS FACE LAYOFFS; 400 IN FLIGHT TESTING PROGRAM WARNED OF COMING CUTBACKS.Byline: Jim Skeen Do you mean:
Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. is notifying no·ti·fy tr.v. no·ti·fied, no·ti·fy·ing, no·ti·fies 1. To give notice to; inform: notified the citizens of the curfew by posting signs. 2. 400 of its 440 B-2 flight test workers of pending layoffs as flight testing on the bat-wing aircraft winds down. Major flight testing of the bomber bomber Military aircraft designed to drop bombs on surface targets. Aerial bombardment can be traced to the Italo-Turkish War (1911), in which an Italian pilot dropped grenades on two Turkish targets. is scaling back as of the end of this month, almost eight years after the first B-2 flight July 17, 1989. ``Eighty of the 400 workers were given notices in May. The remainder of the 400 will receive their notices by the end of this month,'' said Northrop Grumman spokesman Ed Smith. In addition to examining the basic aerodynamic qualities of the aircraft, the program tested the B-2's terrain-following radar Terrain-following radar is an aerospace technology that allows a very-low-flying aircraft to automatically maintain a constant altitude. It is sometimes referred-to as ground hugging, terrain hugging or nap-of-the-earth flight. system and weapon systems, including a satellite-guided system capable of delivering a 2,000-pound bomb to within 25 feet of its target. A follow-on test program begins July 1, but it will involve only one aircraft as opposed to the six bombers used during the peak of the initial testing. In the spring of 1998, the follow-on flight testing will be scaled back to the point where the one aircraft will be used only part time, Air Force officials said. The follow-on flight testing program will involve improvements to the B-2's conventional weapon systems, Air Force officials said. As the flight testing program winds down, a major debate over the future of the B-2 is expected to occur this month as the House of Representatives considers an amendment to strike $331 million from the 1998 defense authorization The right or permission to use a system resource; the process of granting access. See access control. bill to keep the bomber production line open to build nine more. Rep (programming) REP - A directive used in IBM object code card decks (and later PTF Tapes) to REPlace fragments of already assembled or compiled object code prior to link edit. . Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, whose district includes the B-2 assembly plant in Palmdale, said this week that he was ``not very optimistic'' about the bomber's chances in Congress. The Senate's version of the defense authorization bill blocks spending money to keep the bomber production line open. Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor of the B-2, estimates it would cost $9.3 billion to build the nine aircraft over a six-year period. |
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