NORTHROP'S GLOBAL HAWK TEAM WINS FLIGHT'S TOP HONOR PALMDALE-BUILT UNMANNED SPY PLANE AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS COLLIER TROPHY.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Northrop Grumman received the aviation world's equivalent of an Academy Award for its Global Hawk spy plane, which is moving closer to production.

The computer-controlled, unmanned jet, which is manufactured in Palmdale and tested at Edwards Air Force Base, was named the winner of the 2000 Robert J. Collier Trophy by the National Aeronautic Association.

``It is a great honor to have the NAA select Global Hawk as the 2000 Collier Trophy winner,'' said Ralph Crosby Jr., Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and president of the company's Integrated Systems Sector. ``The entire Global Hawk team, led by our Unmanned Systems Integrated Product Team at the Ryan Aeronautical Center, contributed to the success that this trophy recognizes.''

The trophy is on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and is considered the highest aviation award in the United States.

The Global Hawk program will be honored by the NAA at a dinner in Washington on May 8.

The Collier Trophy, established in 1911, is awarded annually for the greatest achievement in aeronautics and astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency and safety of air or space vehicles.

Shorter than an F-16, but with the wingspan of a Boeing 737, the Global Hawk is designed to fly as high as 65,000 feet and stay there for up to 30 hours at a time.

Controlled by onboard computers, the aircraft will be able to survey 40,000 square miles, an area larger than Indiana, in one trip.

Northrop Grumman also announced that the Pentagon has added $84 million to the company's contract to develop the Global Hawk. The additional money will assist the company move from an advanced concept demonstration phase into a phase in which the design of the aircraft and its systems are refined and the initial production aircraft are built.

Major tasks under the contract modification include enhancements to the computer systems, improvements to mission planning process and validation of these changes through flight testing. The work is to be completed in September 2002.

Northrop Grumman has about 100 people in its Ryan Aeronautical Unit at Palmdale and Edwards.

The exact number of Global Hawk aircraft to be built has not been determined, but Air Force planners have looked at having as many as 60 planes.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) Northrop Grumman's computer-controlled Global Hawk prototype soars over the Antelope Valley on a recent flight test.