When was northrop grumman founded

It operates through four business segments: Aerospace, Electronic, Information and Technical Services. The Aerospace Systems segment designs, develops, integrates and produces manned aircraft, unmanned systems, spacecraft, high-energy laser systems, microelectronics and other systems and subsystems. The segment consists of four business areas: unmanned systems, military aircraft systems, space systems and advanced programs and technology. The Electronic Systems segment designs, develops, manufactures, and supports solutions for sensing, understanding, anticipating, and controlling the environment for global military, civil, and commercial customers.

Electronic Systems provides a variety of defense electronics and systems, airborne fire control radars, situational awareness systems, early warning systems, airspace management systems, navigation systems, communications systems, marine systems, space systems, and logistics services.

The Information Systems segment is a global provider of advanced solutions for the department of defense, national intelligence, federal civilian, state and local agencies, and international customers. This segment products and services are focused on the fields of command, control, communications, computers and intelligence, air and missile defense, decision support systems, information technology and systems engineering and integration. The Technical Services segment is a provider of logistics, infrastructure, and sustainment support, while also providing a wide array of technical services, including training and simulation.

Automobile manufacturers, for instance, had to be converted from the production of cars and trucks to battle tanks and airplanes; assembly lines for sewing machines had to be refitted to produce machine guns.

Grumman's only task was to increase its output and develop new airplane designs. The Hellcat was developed in response to the Mitsubishi Zero, a highly maneuverable Japanese fighter with a powerful engine. Grumman aircraft were used almost exclusively in the Pacific war against Japan, and provided the American carrier forces with the power to repel many Japanese naval and aerial attacks. No other aircraft manufacturer received such high praise from the military.

Grumman was the first company to be awarded an "E" by the U. The award further increased the high morale at Grumman. The Grumman company turned out over airplanes per month. To maintain that level of productivity the company provided a number of services to its workers, including daycare, personnel counseling, auto repair, and errand running.

In addition, employees were substantially rewarded for their efficient work. The company had always had an excellent relationship with its employees, largely as a result of policies set down by Leon Swirbul, who oversaw production and employee relations while Grumman involved himself in design, engineering, and financial matters. By the end of the war, Grumman had produced over 17, aircraft. The sudden termination of government contracts after the war seriously affected companies such as Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas, as well as Grumman.

Many aircraft companies first looked to the commercial airliner market as an opportunity to maintain both their scale of operation and profitability. The market suddenly became highly competitive. Although Grumman manufactured commercial aircraft, it elected to remain out of the passenger transport business. Those companies that did manufacture commercial transports lost money, and some even went out of business.

Grumman continued to conduct most of its business with the Navy. During the s, Grumman developed two new amphibious airplanes called the Mallard and Albatross; new jets included the Tiger, Cougar, and Intruder.

It also diversified its product line by introducing aluminum truck bodies, canoes, and small boats. In Grumman unveiled the world's first business jet, the Gulfstream I, quickly selling of them. In Grumman's cofounder Leon Swirbul died. Grumman created a subsidiary in called Grumman Allied. The subsidiary was established to operate and coordinate all of the company's non-aeronautical business, and allow management to concentrate on its aerospace ventures.

When the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA completed its Mercury and Gemini space programs, it turned its attention to fulfilling the challenge made by the late President Kennedy, namely, landing a man on the moon before The Apollo program called for several moon landings, each using two spaceships. The command modules, manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, were intended to orbit the moon while the lunar modules, built by Grumman, landed on the moon. Grumman's contract with NASA specified construction of 15 lunar modules, ten test modules, and two mission simulators.

Only 12, however, were actually built. Design problems already faced by Grumman engineers were compounded by their limited knowledge of the lunar surface. The lunar modules had to meet unusual crisis-scenario specifications, such as hard landings, landings on steep inclines, and a variety of system failures.

Nine thousand Grumman personnel were devoted to the lunar module project, representing a reorientation of the company's business--Grumman had entered the aerospace industry. The United States made its first manned moon landing in July , with several more to follow through Grumman's spaceships performed almost flawlessly and represented a new and special relationship between the company and NASA.

Grumman was later chosen by NASA to build the six-foot-thick wings for the agency's space shuttles. Meanwhile, Grumman Aircraft changed its name to Grumman Corporation to reflect its increasingly diverse operations.

Through the s and s, Grumman maintained a good relationship with the Pentagon. While that relationship continued to be good during the s, it was marked by a serious disagreement over the delivery of of Grumman's F Tomcat fighter jets.

At issue was who was to pay for cost overruns on a government-ordered project--the company or the taxpayer? Grumman argued that completion of the contract under the present terms would bankrupt the company.

The matter was later resolved when the Defense Department agreed to cover Grumman's losses, and the company agreed to a new contract procedure that would automatically review project costs on an annual basis and make adjustments when necessary. Grumman's swing-wing F became operational in and soon established itself as the standard carrier-based fighter jet for the U. Assigned to intercept attacking jets and protect carrier battle groups, the Tomcat had variable geometry wings that swept back when it was sprinting and swept out when it was landing.

It could independently track 24 targets and destroy six of them at a time. Fs performed successfully in intermittent raids and dogfights with Libyan pilots over the Gulf of Sidra. In addition to the F, Grumman manufactured the E-2C Hawkeye, an early warning airborne command center able to track over objects within three million cubic miles of airspace. Navy Secretary John Lehman asserted that if the British had an E-2C in the Falklands, they would have had unchallenged air superiority and would not have lost any ships to Exocet missiles.

Both examples illustrated the value of the Hawkeye. Air Force. The new aircraft, designated EF, was designed to jam enemy radar surveillance "from the Baltic to the Adriatic.

The electronic sophistication of Grumman's aircraft invited criticism from military reformers who argued that modern weapons had become too complex and therefore unmanageable. In the s, these reformers, led by Gary Hart, widely publicized this view. The ultimate success of their movement could have had disastrous effects for Grumman. Following the costly disagreement over the F, the company's long-term viability was threatened even more by these reformers under the Carter Administration.

Continued attempts to sell Fs to foreign governments failed, as did lobbying efforts to sell more of the jets to the U. Consequently, Grumman made an effort to diversify its product line. The strategy was ambitious but failed. Furthermore, during the recession of the late s, sales of the Gulfstream corporate jet faltered, leading Grumman to sell off the division, which was renamed Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation.

In , Grumman acquired the curiously named Flxible bus division from Rohr Industries. Many of the buses developed cracked undercarriage components, prompting some customers such as the City of New York to pull all of their Flxible buses out of service. The suit was dismissed in court.

In Grumman faced a hostile takeover from LTV Corporation, a steel, electronics, and aircraft conglomerate based in Texas. Grumman's workers mobilized an enthusiastic demonstration of support for their company's resistance to LTV. Leroy Grumman, who retired from the company in , raised employee morale when he voiced his support of the opposition to the LTV takeover attempt.

Leroy Grumman died in after a long illness. It was widely reported that Grumman was blinded in by a severe allergic reaction to penicillin administered during treatment of pneumonia.

In fact, Grumman was not blinded. His eyesight did, however, begin to deteriorate many years later as his health began to wane.

The Grumman Corporation faced another threat when it became involved in a scandal involving illegal bribes to government officials in Iran and Japan.

After the Lockheed Corporation was accused of such improprieties, the sales practices of other defense contractors such as Grumman came under scrutiny. During the investigation of Grumman, a Japanese official named Mitsuhiro Shimada committed suicide. After the investigations subsided, the companies in question were free to concentrate all their efforts on more constructive matters. Grumman engineers, however, had something highly unconventional on their drawing boards.

Grumman's chairman, Jack Bierwirth, was credited with saying, "If you don't invest in research and development, you damned well aren't going to accomplish anything. The revolutionary feature of the X was that its wings swept forward, appearing to have been mounted backwards. This feature gave the X superior maneuverability.

To counteract the inherent instability of such a design, the X was equipped with a Honeywell computer system which readjusted the canards wing controls 40 times a second, maintaining stable flight. Never intended for mass production, only one X was built as a "technology demonstrator.

John Cocks Bierwirth, a former naval officer, became Grumman's chairman and chief executive officer in Regarding his mission as "essentially building the corporation of the future," Bierwirth divided Grumman's operations into nine divisions under centralized management. According to Bierwirth, Grumman's future was with aircraft, space, and electronics.

Northrop Grumman organises its operations in to four reportable business segments: Aerospace Systems, comprising the provision of various aerospace solutions, including manned aircraft, unmanned systems, spacecraft, and microelectronics; Electronic Systems, comprising the provision of various electronic systems, including defense electronics, airborne fire control radars, situational awareness systems, and early warning systems; Information Systems, comprising the provision of various information systems, including communications, command control, air and missile defense, and intelligence processing systems; and Technical Services, comprising the provision of various technical services, including missile defense, nuclear security, training and simulation services.

Northrop Grumman works closely with a broad range of companies and organisations throughout the development and implementation of its solutions and services. These partners include:. Northrop Grumman has launched a number of partnerships in recent years. Northrop Grumman utilises patent and trade secret laws to protect intellectual properties used in its solutions and products. It also licenses technologies and intellectual properties from third parties. Northrop Grumman owns and or leases numerous properties across the US and internationally that are key to its operations, including a network of research and testing facilities, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and administrative and corporate offices.

Northrop Grumman incurs costs in relation to the development and testing of its solutions, the maintenance of its IT and communications infrastructure, the operation of its manufacturing facilities and procurement of materials, the operation of its sales and distribution channels, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel. Northrop Grumman generates revenue through the provision of various information, electronic, technical, and aerospace solutions.

This includes the manufacture and sale of physical products, the provision of specialist and professional services, and the provision of various technology-based solutions. Antkowiak is a long-serving Northrop Grumman employee, having first joined the Company in Prior to joining Northrop Grumman, Bedingfield spent more than 17 years at KPMG, where he held a number of roles, including a spell as national client leader for its US Aerospace and Defense audit practice.

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