Northrop Grumman announces new orders for its optionally piloted intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance system ahead of European debut

SAN DIEGO –  Marking its European debut, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s optionally-piloted Firebird product line will be showcased at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford, in the United Kingdom, July 19-21.

The company is also announcing signed agreements with Tenax Aerospace and Grand Sky Development Company, LLC for rights to purchase Firebird, the company’s new, optionally piloted intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft system.

Northrop Grumman’s Firebird product line delivers medium altitude and long endurance multi-mission flexibility. Available in manned, autonomous and optionally piloted configurations, Firebird is designed to deliver critical ISR capability to meet customer mission needs.

Grand Sky is the nation’s first commercial unmanned aerial vehicle testing and training center. Located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Grand Sky is home to one of Northrop Grumman’s North Dakota locations. Tenax Aerospace is a leading provider of special mission aircraft and related aviation services to the U.S. government and commercial customers. Both companies see Firebird as meeting critical information gaps for their businesses.

Firebird is equipped with wide band Line-of-Sight (LoS) and/or Beyond-Line-of-Sight (BLoS) data links, onboard storage and accessible processing for rapid data exploitation to ensure timely completion of missions for industry and government customers. The system’s unique design allows sensors to be changed rapidly as plug-and-play devices, reducing first time payload integration time from months to days and enabling rapid field changes in less than an hour to increase operational availability and tailored mission suitability. Firebird delivers 30-plus hours of endurance and up to 25,000 feet, providing customers near real-time actionable intelligence.