Navy Drones To Be Built In St. Augustine
Navy Gives Northrop Grumman Contract For Unmanned Aircraft
POSTED: Friday, April 25, 2008
  The new Navy drones will be similar to the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft being used by the air force. |
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- The Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $1.16 contract to build an unmanned aircraft system, creating 176 new jobs at its plant in St. Augustine.The system is designed to patrol large ocean areas and feed surveillance data to an operator on the ground. It will work in conjunction with P-8A Poseidon squadrons which are expected to be based at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.Northrop Grumman has until 2013 to test and deliver two planes.If the test aircraft work as expected, the Navy is expected to buy between 60 and 80 planes, which would be built in St. Augustine.The contract is the biggest of ever awarded by the Navy for drone aircraft and was awarded one day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates complained that the military was not moving aggressively enough to meet the intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance needs of combat commanders.
Copyright 2008 by News4Jax.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Copyright 2008 by News4Jax.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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