Northrop Grumman Positions Global Logistics Capabilities for International Growth
WASHINGTON — May 29, 2014 — Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) logistics experts met at the National Press Club May 28 to discuss how the company supports international operations including the Pacific Rim.
The briefing detailed how Northrop Grumman is leveraging its more than 80 years of expertise in logistics to provide innovative, affordable solutions that enhance effectiveness over the total life cycle of the systems.
“With our Qantas Defence Services acquisition in late February, several key programs add greater value to Northrop Grumman’s global portfolio and are now part of Integrated Defence Services under Northrop Grumman Australia,” said Steve Hogan, sector vice president and general manager, integrated logistics and modernization division, Northrop Grumman Technical Services. “The robust global logistics marketplace provides tremendous opportunities for Northrop Grumman to deliver differentiated value and top performance for our customers.”
About 70 percent of the cost of a military system is in sustaining and modernizing that product over its entire life cycle while 30 percent is in its research, development and initial production. Northrop Grumman began forming its enterprise business processes four years ago to create a higher level of efficiency through a new logistics architecture called Support Anywhere.
“Our Support Anywhere logistics architecture brings together the people, processes and tools across all of Northrop Grumman to drive a higher level of mission execution and affordability across all of our customers’ programs. It’s modular, scalable and flexible to meet needs of any program at any maturity level,” said John Patrick (J.P.) Batache, director, information technology, global logistics and operational support, Northrop Grumman Enterprise Shared Services.
One successful example of that effort is the Global Combat Support System-Army (GCSS-A).
“GCSS-A is a state-of-the-art, web-based, logistics and finance system based upon commercial best business practices and off-the-shelf software that serves as an automated combat enabler for soldiers,” said Joe Taylor, vice president, combat and mission systems, defense systems division, Northrop Grumman Information Systems.
Taylor said more than 15,000 users Armywide will have the system by the end of 2015.
“When Wave 2 fielding begins in 2015, more than 130,000 additional users will receive the new system for managing their property book, unit supply and ground maintenance processes and activities,” Taylor added.
While GCSS is adding value to the U.S. Army’s logistics efforts and mission execution, Northrop Grumman’s deployed logistics support to such programs as the U.S. Air Force Global Hawk, U.S. Navy Fire Scout and U.S. Army Hunter, continues to demonstrate the team’s ability to deliver a high level of mission readiness.
“Our high altitude long endurance unmanned aircraft system series, which includes the Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawk, set a record for mission hours flown in one week, logging 665 hours flying operational and exercise missions during the week ending Feb. 23. This record could not have been set without teams of people focused on the stellar execution of our logistics efforts,” said Jim Zortman, sector vice president, global logistics and operational support, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “The proof is always in the mission performance.”
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide.
SOURCE: Northrop Grumman