by Craig Hooper on November 5, 2017
There should be little mystery behind Northrop Grumman’s recent decision to withdraw from the MQ-25 Stingray Program. As the requirements have trickled out, the Stingray has started to look very much like an unmanned F-18 variant. And that’s great, because an F-18 variant would help the Navy focus on integrating a pedestrian unmanned platform into […]
by admin on October 30, 2016
Two things inform the upcoming MQ-25 Stingray opportunity: The first is that Northrop Grumman will be hard to beat, and, second, airframe innovation should take a distant backseat to the work needed to harden and prove-out the electronic “back-end” of carrier-based UAVs. I had a chance to discuss all this with the San Diego Business Journal last […]
by admin on February 2, 2016
It looks like the Navy is getting an UAV mid-air tanker. That’s great–it forces the Navy to really incorporate a UAV into the daily grind of carrier operations. It’s the fastest route to UAV normalization, and it offers a spiral route to something far more interesting. The little kid in me would have have loved […]
by admin on September 2, 2014
The fight over the Navy’s next-generation unmanned asset, the UCLASS, continues, with, as USNI’s Sam Lagrone reports, another delay: The final request for proposal (RFP) for the Navy’s planned carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been delayed pending a review of the service’s information, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) portfolio as part of the service’s budget […]
by Craig Hooper on March 25, 2011
One of the underestimated pieces of infrastructure in the American warfighter’s toolkit is, well, their meteorologists. It’s neat to be able to have an up-to-the-minute global read on the weather, so ships and aircraft can know–at a very, very high level of detail, where to go to avoid tough sea conditions or bad weather. The […]
by Craig Hooper on January 17, 2011
Had a nice chat about the T-AO(X) program with the Mobile Press-Register’s Jeff Amy last week, and the story dropped yesterday. Read it here. It’s a good article–making the best of a tough editorial assignment. Basically, the reporter was put to work assembling this story because some Gulf Coast folks hope that the money saved […]
by Craig Hooper on September 21, 2010
I joined the President of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, C. Michael Petters and Dave Heebner, the executive vice-president of General Dynamics Marine Systems, in a NDIA post on recent shipbuilding developments (i.e. the T-AO(X) acceleration). Here’s what Sandra Erwin, the Editor of their flagship National Defense Magazine, included of my interview: Lumping the T-AO(X) acceleration with […]
by Craig Hooper on September 16, 2010
I am not funded by any shipyard, but, for the past several months–on my own swiftly depleting savings, so to speak–I have been pressing for the next-generation, double-hulled T-AO(X) program. Tomorrow, if the early reports are valid, the SECNAV will formally announce the acceleration of the T-AO(X) program–starting procurement of the first hull in 2014 […]
by Craig Hooper on March 8, 2010
Is the Navy having some problems getting along with shipbuilder Northrop Grumman? Defense media overlooked some stern words–and a hand-carried letter–Congressman Gene Taylor (D-MS) delivered to SECNAV Mabus after a February 24 hearing on the Navy’s FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Budget Request. Here’s a rough transcript–of what sounds somewhat like an ultimatum: “…Secretary Mabus, […]