AFA Winter 2019: Northrop Grumman plans drop-in replacements for US Air Force next-generation navigation system

Northrop Grumman is planning drop-in replacements for legacy positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems as part of its new contract with the US Air Force (USAF).

The company announced recently it was awarded a USD59 million contract in the fourth quarter of 2018 for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Embedded Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS)-Modernization (EGI-M) programme. This will help provide accurate PNT solutions, even in a GPS-denied environment. The lead platforms for the effort are the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and the US Navy’s (USN’s) Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

Dean Ebert, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems vice-president of navigation and positioning systems, told Jane’s in February that the company will replace the legacy LN251 on the F-22 and the LN251 on the E-2D with an upgraded EGI-M system that will share common cards. The only difference, he said, will be the form factor and the faceplate. Northrop Grumman also has the LN260 on the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Ebert said the F-22 will get a modernised LN300 while the E-2D will get the modernised LN351. He said drop-in replacements will improve modernisation with minimal integration, which he called remarkable from a cost-savings standpoint.

“We’ll have three form factors with fundamentally the same components inside,” Ebert said. “The differences will be merely the chassis size, the form factor, and the faceplate that physically connects to the platform.”