JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 - Northrop · PDF file4 january/february 2017 5 36 families give of themselves — literally by alanradecki q&a across the pond by gerimacdonald 32 34 to the

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THE PASSION TO REINVENT IS EVERYWHERE ACROSS OUR COMPANY,

AND THE EVIDENCE IS COMPELLING.

54 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

36FAMILIES GIVE OF THEMSELVES — LITERALLY by AlanRadecki

Q&A ACROSS THE POND by GeriMacDonald

32

34TO THE VICTOR

BELONG THE SPOILSby KevinGonzalez

(r)community

(r)innovation WILDLIFE CHALLENGE by DanielHazard

24

FABLABS: TRIPLE PLAY FOR INNOVATION by AnnCarney

26

20

28NASA GLOBAL HAWK

by GregLund

30YOUR VOICE MATTERS by BrookeMiner

(r)featurescover

(r)performance

across (r)sector

(r)departments

6 connections

8 letter from (r)editor

9 headlines

10 by the numbers

12 the maker space

16 ng next

18 (r)heritage

contents

connections

VICEVICETOM

am pulled to the water surely as the moon influences the tides.

When I need inspiration, I head to the beach. There’s something

about the shoreline, the ebb and flow of the tide, sunrises and sunsets,

that spur my creativity.

The beach is constantly undergoing reinvention. One day you might

see dolphins surfing amongst the waves – I have to fight the urge to

join them. The next day a shark’s dorsal fin will shadow the shoreline,

and the energy and your instinct are totally different. There’s a beach I

know where sea turtles come from around the globe once a year to

deposit eggs and begin the process of reinventing a new generation.

Some of my happiest times are scuba diving with my daughter

deep in the ocean. The dynamic of the coral reef, the great diversity

of life is forever in motion and reinventing itself. No two days on

the reef are alike.

Water reinvents landscapes. It nurtures entire worlds. Every unique

drop, when combined with others, just like each one of us, creates an

unstoppable force.

Water: It’s what we’re made of; it’s what creates humanity … just as

each of us working together is what makes up this powerful company,

Northrop Grumman.

For more stories of reinvention, see pg. 24.

I

(Sector Vice President, Communications CynthiaCuriel

Editor in Chief YolandaMurphy

Executive Editor BrookeMiner

Departments Editor ChrisBoyd

Features Editor AnnCarney

Creative Director AdamUgolnik

Art Director AntoinetteBingZaté

Photography Director AlexEvers

Advertising Manager DarrellBrock

Contributors Brandon Balasbas, Lindsay Caldwell,

Ken Fisher, John Germana, Adam Gross, Michael Regan, Kevin Salvini, Gloria Sola

Editorial Board Ann Akutagawa, Chris Boyd, Darrell Brock,

Ann Carney, Alex Evers, Steve Fisher, Matthew Garth, Sally Koris,

Elizabeth McCann, Lindsay McLaurin, Brooke Miner, Yolanda Murphy,

Rhonda Nelson, Diane Pennington, Brooke Smitherman, Larry Stewart,

Katherine Thompson, Jaysen Turner, Adam Ugolnik, AnnaMaria White,

Antoinette Bing Zaté

(r)evolution © 2017 Northrop Grumman Corporation

All Rights Reserved. Printed in USA

(r)evolution magazine is published for employees by Aerospace Systems Com-munications. Please contact Brooke Miner ([email protected]) for permission to reprint, excerpt material, request additional copies, or provide story ideas.

All photography courtesy of Northrop Grumman unless otherwise indicated.


E-2D Advanced Hawkeye with New Aerial Refueling Capability Successfully Completes First Flight

Northrop Grumman has successfully completed the first flight of an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye equipped with aerial refueling. Under a 2013 engineering, manufacturing, and development contract award, the company designed, developed, manufactured and tested several sub-system upgrades necessary to accommodate this capability.

“The aerial refueling team continues to put outstanding effort into bringing this much-needed capability to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and our warfighters who rely on it,” said Capt. Keith Hash, program manager, E-2/C-2 Airborne Tactical Data System Program Office (PMA-231).

The aerial refueling capability will allow the E-2D to provide longer on-station times at greater ranges, extending its mission time to better support the warfighter. The upgrades installed to support aerial refueling include probe and associated piping, electrical and lighting upgrades and long endurance seats that will enhance field of view in the cockpit and reduce fatigue over longer missions.

“First flight is an exciting day,” said Jane Bishop, vice president, E-2/C-2 programs, Northrop Grumman. “This takes the E-2D to another level, which will bring more combat persistence to the U.S. and our allies.”

— Judy Quinlan

Northrop Grumman Engineers Mentor University Teams at Pacific Rim Maritime RobotX Challenge

Northrop Grumman showed its support for global science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM) education by sponsoring the 2016 Maritime RobotX Challenge, which engages regional partners around the Pacific Rim to create a robotics community that inspires the next generation of builders, creators and engineers. The event, organized by the AUVSI (Associa- tion for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International) Foundation, was held on Sand Island in Honolulu from Dec. 11 – 18, 2016.

Bringing together 13 teams of univer- rsity students from five countries (United States, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Japan and Australia), RobotX

challenged each team to develop and test a highly capable autonomous surface vessel in the hopes of inspiring innovative thought and unlocking engineering potential. Nearly 200 students competed in a series of qualifying heats Tuesday, Dec. 13 – Saturday, Dec. 17, and the finals were held Sunday, Dec. 18.

Northrop Grumman engineers mentored students during the challenge to help the teams as they built and tested their systems. For example, two Northrop Grumman engineers helped advise the Osaku University OUXT team, the only Japanese team in this year’s competition, during the development of their autonomous maritime system.

“Northrop Grumman is committed to maintaining relationships with the best and the brightest engineering students across the globe,” said Gene Fraser, vice president, programs, quality and engineering, Northrop Grumman and AUVSI Foundation chairman of the board. “By sponsoring the Maritime RobotX competition, we support the thought leaders of tomorrow.”

— Bryce McDevitt

I’ve been with Northrop Grumman for 12 years, but I’m relatively new to Aerospace Systems. When I was offered the Enterprise Communications Director position last year, I jumped at the chance to be part of this incredible culture.

This year, our call is to REINVENT. So it seemed fitting to start with our sector’s flagship publication — let’s reinvent our connection with each other and the world. After six months of collecting your feedback, commen- tary and suggestions, analyzing media consumption habits and testing theories, we are excited to introduce (r)evolution magazine – a refresh of the former Inside Aerospace.

(r)evolution magazine, pronounced “our evolution,” is a celebration of the people, products and potential of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. As we reach beyond aerospace and into the technology space, our employees are participating in – and creating – a cultural evolution. The new magazine is more in tune with the way you interact with news today.

This is our voice, these are our sto-ries and this is (r)magazine. If there’s something you think we should be covering, we want to know about it. Send us your ideas and feedback at [email protected], or contact a staff member (listed to the left).

We hope you like our new look and direction and are excited to see what comes next. I know I am.

Yolanda Murphy Editor in Chief (r)evolution magazine

9

headlines

THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE By Connie Reese

by the numbers

11

Mechanical technicians Manny Pacheco, Scott Brand and Travis Cameron.

Photo by Alex Evers


1 MILLIONNASA’s

James Webb Space Telescope will orbit 1 million miles from

Earth at a spot called L2, or the second Lagrange Point.

178The Webb

telescope’s 40 deployable structures

will be deployed via 178 release devices — every

one of which must work perfectly for the mission to be

successful.-388

The instruments on the “cold side” of

the telescope — the side facing away from the sun — will need to be

operable at minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit. The

“hot side” will be around 185 degrees

Fahrenheit.

6.5Made up of 18

separate segments, the telescope’s primary mirror has a diameter

of 6.5 meters, or 21 feet, 4 inches.

100 MILLIONBy the time it’s

complete, it will have taken 100 million person-

hours to design, build and verify the James Webb

Space Telescope.


the maker space

welcomeT0THE

By Tony Long MAKERSPACE

I was wearing my best suit, had just gotten my hair cut a few days prior and was nervously excited. It was a rainy day in our nation’s capital, so it came as a rather unpleasant shock that, when I deployed my umbrella, it did so in ballistic fashion into multiple pieces. This was the start of my visit to the White House to talk about what we are doing here at the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems FabLab. Thankfully, the rest of the day went much better.

For those unfamiliar, the FabLab (short for Fabrication Laboratory) is one of the most exciting and rapidly evolving parts of this company. At Space Park in Redondo Beach, Calif., the FabLab is a single giant room housing an array of machines and tools for building things. Other Northrop Grumman FabLabs take up multiple rooms (the one in Melbourne, Fla., will even include off-campus space). FabLabs are open to all Northrop Grumman employees, regardless of occupation.

People come to FabLabs for a variety of reasons. Here in Redondo Beach, engineers like Alex Zundel come to learn how to sew. Financial analysts like Julia Tang learn and practice the fine art of aircraft fabrication. Directors like Barbara Johnston motivate scores of volunteers to build prosthetic hands for children. Machinists like Scott Marsiglia teach others their craft. Mechanical Technician Robert Del Rio energizes a group building rockets. Test Engineer Ted Kucharski is taking sophisticated alignment techniques from our space business and applying them to aircraft assembly.

Across the United States, and probably across the globe, there is a renewed sense of importance to the act of making physical objects. At facilities like our own FabLabs, we are taking the best practices of this so-called “maker movement” and applying them to solving the enormous problems we tackle every day — and, in the process, changing the way we work.

By mid-2017, all five Centers of Excellence will have their own FabLabs. The result of this capability won’t be additive … it will be exponential. I can’t wait to see what we’ll do!

Learn more about the FabLabs on page 30.

THE VALUE OF MAKING By Brooke Miner

Northrop Grumman is a big company. Huge, really, with 68,000+ employees scattered all across the globe. So at first glance, our focus on providing maker spaces — often associated with people puttering around in garages, sawing away in workshops, even soldering bits together at the kitchen table — can seem incongruous.

It’s exactly this incongruity that the company’s FabLab leads came together to talk about during a panel discussion at the New York Maker Faire last October. Among other things, the all-female panel talked about how providing maker spaces in a corporate environment makes business sense, encourages diversity of thought and helps recruit and retain world-class talent — one of Northrop Grumman’s top priorities.

The message came through loud and clear. “Many young women came up to us afterward and said how excited they were to see women leaders from a corporation like Northrop Grumman talking about maker spaces, and how inspired they were,” said Cindy Kohlmiller, Redondo Beach FabLab founder and panel moderator. “The organizers were excited to see how we’re bridging the gap between a corporation and what can be perceived as a ‘hobby’ kind of environment. The recognition of the value of these kinds of spaces in a corporate environment helps legitimize them, and that was exciting.”

Many young women came up to us afterward and said how excited they were to see women leaders from a corporation like Northrop Grumman talking about maker spaces, and how inspired they were.

“

”

THE PANELLAUREN WILHELM and LINDSEY SWEENEY, San Diego FabLab Co-Leads

JESSIE BACCHUS and CATHERINE HARTNEK, Palmdale FabLab Co-Leads

TABITHA BEAVERS, Melbourne FabLab Lead

RACHAEL KUBLY, St. Augustine FabLab Lead

15

I’m not Leonardo da Vinci or Ben Franklin. I’m just a software engineer who likes to hack stuff together.

“— WILLIAM MILLARD

Heat Mapping Hackathon Technical Lead

the maker space

THE PROBLEM: DEAD ZONES. THE SOLUTION: HEAT MAPPING. By Brooke Miner

To make our workplace more sustainable, Northrop Grumman’s Intelligent Workplace Initiative is working to maximize our use of space and eliminate dead zones — areas of buildings that aren’t being used, or at least not as well as they could be. One way to identify these areas is to track people’s movement using heat sensors. The Facilities team has a sensor that works well in office spaces, but they needed one for bigger, more open spaces, like warehouses or factories.

ENTER THE HACKATHONOn Nov. 4, 2016, in Redondo Beach, six FabLab-ers worked into the wee hours (and came back for a second day) to develop a solution. It uses a ceiling-mounted, servo-controlled gimbal to position a thermal camera and a short-range lidar, each of which gathers different types of data. “On the software side, we use OpenCV (Open Source Computer Vision) to identify and count the humans, and we have MATLAB code to generate the heat map,” said William Millard, software engineer and hackathon technical lead. The team plans to integrate a visual

No two hackathons are alike, but they do tend to fall into a few distinct categories. Here are some of the reasons hackathons are organized.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE. These hackathons tug at the heartstrings with a humanitarian purpose and remind us why we work here. A great example is the 2016 “Hack-Art-Thon,” where participants designed a device to help artist Raul Pizarro continue painting despite his muscular dystrophy.

FOR SCIENCE!! These projects support efforts to expand humanity’s knowledge horizon and discover the unknown. Hackathons provide a low-cost way to generate multitudinous out-of-the-box solutions. People partake in these hackathons to experience the pure awesome that is science and engineering.

An example is VAMP, the Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform. This inflatable solar plane rockets to Venus and expands to shape, then flies around collecting weather and other scientific data, providing new insight about the planet. The VAMP hackathon objective was to develop a working model of the plane. Participants designed and built prototypes that demonstrated ways for the craft to deploy its wings and inflate, unfurling its 59-meter wingspan like a roosting bat taking to wing.

TO MEET A PRACTICAL NEED. The heat mapping hackathon falls into this category — hackathons organized to solve problems with the things that make the company run. According to Salvini, “They aren’t the flashy paint job or the engine that roars. They’re the things that keep us going, keep our buildings standing, provide workplace improvements and upgrade the employee experience.”

camera too. “Computers like doing certain types of operations better than others,” said Engineer Kevin Salvini, who organized the hackathon. “This way, we can pick and choose the type of data we want and put it all together to get the best results.”

LEARNING STUFF, MAKING DECISIONSOnce the Facilities team can see how frequently people visit different locations and how long they stay there, they can determine the best way to use the space — and they can use the data to make decisions. For example, if they know where different tools are and how long people are using them, they can figure out which ones are most popular (and might need to be maintained more frequently). Conversely, they can determine when a tool has reached the end of its useful life. “Tools depreciate, so this data will help us determine the best time to trade them in,” said Salvini. “So it’s like we’re selling an iPhone 6 and buying a 7 rather than selling a 3 because we’ve held onto it for so long.”

Acknowledgments: Without the help of Ajay Bettadapura (systems engineering, computer vision), Alex Zundel (MATLAB, mechanical engineering), Amy Dozal (electronics, controls), Javier Zamorano (electrical engineering, controls), Kevin Salvini (controls, requisition), and Tony Long (preliminary gimbal design, FabLab support) this project wouldn’t have been possible. This project was a rollercoaster of emotions, and I couldn’t have done it without them.

— William Millard

— KEVIN SALVINI Engineer and Heat Mapping Hackathon Organizer

Hackathons are a great way to test drive new technologies and capabilities to see whether or not we should continue investigating them. They let you narrow your options very quickly.

“

HACKATHONSTYPES OFSIDE NOTE:


Sensor-in-progress (top) and heat map of Will (bottom).

Photo by Michael Regan

16 17JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

ng next

The Northrop Grumman Institute of Optical Nanomaterials and Nanophotonics (NG-ION2) is a thematic research collaboration between NG Next and the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering.

Northrop Grumman contributed $500,000 to NG-ION2 in 2016 to advance interdisciplinary research by chemists, electrical engineers, material scientists and physi- cists to develop novel materials for optical devices. This strategic investment facilitates regular ex- changes between NG Next and USC Viterbi researchers working across projects.

WHO’S WORKING ON IT?NG-ION2 is led by co-directors Dr. Andrea Armani, associate professor of Chemical Engineer-ing and Materials Science, and of Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics, in the USC Chemi-cal Engineering Department, and Dr. Jesse Tice, principal scientist and nanomaterials group lead, NG Next. The university grants Northrop Grumman scientists visiting researcher positions, allowing them to work collabora- tively on campus with their USC Viterbi counterparts to advance science in nanomaterials and integrated photonics.

According to the analyst firm Frost & Sullivan, more than four out of five technologies develop-ed globally never make it to the commercial world, due to what is commonly called the “Valley of Death” — the lack of funding academic researchers face when they cannot find an industry transition partner. “One of the goals of NG-ION2 is to support fundamental research with a long-term transitional goal, and, ideally, to transfer the research

into technology,” said Armani. “Northrop Grumman researchers are directly involved with selecting the projects and performing the research, which should result in a high percentage of the projects being transitioned seamlessly.”

NG-ION2 provides an environment for interactions between the two organizations. Armani explains the collaboration: “Northrop Grumman researchers spend time in USC labs, working side

By Kevin Gonzalez

by side with graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and they guest lecture in undergraduate and graduate classes. And USC researchers, including students, attend Northrop Grumman meetings and workshops, presenting posters to world-renowned researchers. Thus, Northrop Grumman is becoming a nexus for scientific dialogue.”

HUGEOPPORTUNITIES … ON A

SCALENANONG-ION2: WHAT IS IT?

WHY IT MATTERS

—Dr. Andrea Armani USC professor and NG-ION2 co-director

DUE TO THE NATURE OF DEFENSE RESEARCH, IT’S UNCLEAR WHAT THE RESEARCHERS

ACTUALLY DO. SO, ENGINEERING STUDENTS GRAVITATE TOWARDS THE KNOWN COMPANIES

LIKE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK, INSTEAD OF THE UNKNOWN DOD-RELATED COMPANIES.

THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH NORTHROP GRUMMAN RESEARCHERS AND GAIN EXPOSURE

HAS PROVIDED OUR STUDENTS INSIGHT INTO

”THE FIELD AS WELL AS THE COMPANY.

Dr. Juan C. Garcia, principal scientist.

Photo by Alex Evers

Dr. Andrea Armani.

Photo courtesy of USC Viterbi


By Alan Radecki

The XP-56 Black Bullet, ordered by the U.S. Army Air Corps as a part of a 1939 technology development program, is a shining example of that kind of glorious “failure” that comes from pushing the envelope of design.

Ever obsessed with developing the flying wing aircraft design — and taking advantage of the reduction in drag that eliminating the tail surfaces offered — Northrop envisioned an extremely fast, maneuverable fighter. It didn’t work out so well. The original design, which Northrop called the N2B, did not have the upper vertical stabilizer you see here, and directional stability on the first flights was severely lacking.

Northrop’s concept was actually designed around Pratt & Whitney’s proposed liquid-cooled X-1800, a 24-cylinder H-block monster of an engine. When Pratt gave up on that design, Northrop was forced to adapt the airframe’s design to accommodate a very different engine shape: the air-cooled Pratt R-2800 radial engine, embedded in the fuselage right behind the cockpit. The engine drove two contra-rotating pusher props through a gearbox (just as the early version of the XB-35 did), and excessive flexing of the drive shafts caused additional problems.

The XP-56 was the first all-magne- sium, all-welded airframe in history, and Northrop perfected and patent- ed the now-commonplace heliarc welding process in order to manu- facture the plane. Because ejection seats were still in the future, an explosive charge was included in the propeller shaft so that the prop could be blown off in case the pilot had to jump out in an emergency.

The first of the two prototypes, painted silver, took to the air on Sept. 6, 1943, from the Muroc (now

Edwards) Air Base lake bed, but test pilot John Myers encountered con- trollability issues. Two more flights were made on Oct. 8. Later that day, during a high-speed taxi test on the lake bed, the left main tire disintegrated. The plane tumbled out of control and was destroyed.

The second prototype, painted olive and gray, took over testing, and a number of design changes were made to try to improve stability. These included the addition of the upper vertical tail and the installation of an innovative flaperon system that was pneumatically actuated by a system of bellows powered by air from the venturiis on the wingtips. First flight was on March 23, 1944. It was very short because the pilot experienced pitch control problems, with the aircraft acting extremely nose-heavy. There were other issues, including excessive fuel consumption and an inability to fly anywhere near the top speeds that the engineers expected.

To investigate the causes of these issues, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was asked to test the aircraft in its giant wind tunnel at Moffett Federal Airfield. However, higher priority projects caused schedule delays, so some additional tests were flown at Muroc. The handling qualities problems continued, and further testing was deemed unsafe. The wind tunnel testing was delayed another year, by which time the war was over and the age of jet aircraft was dawning.

Ultimately, the Air Corps gave up and cancelled the program. The sole surviving XP-56 is stored awaiting restoration at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Oh, and no, despite the name, the XP-56 was never painted black.

Jack Northrop had a knack for thinking outside the box ... and coming up with radical, unusual aircraft designs. But not all of them worked.BLACK BULLET

THE

WASN’TTHAT

(r)heritage

2017

Working in a closed area, so much of my professional life must be kept a secret from friends and family.

Those of us who see what happens behind closed doors take real pride in how we have reinvented

systems and technologies that are ensuring our national security for decades into the future.

Now beer is something I love to talk about. And I love to drink it. Like the technology we create at Northrop

Grumman, the best beer builds upon a legacy but is absolutely unique. It’s amazing how common

ingredients like water, yeast, hops and barley can have so many different permutations. But it starts

with water. Great water equals great beer. It’s the constant.

SNYDER 21SNYDERNOAH

NOW IT’S TIME TO GO FORTH AND

EACH OF US HAS OUR OWN STORY OFREINVENTION. HERE ARE A FEW OF THEM.

The ocean’s power has such a profound impact. The waves and tides are forever reshaping and reinvent-

ing the shore. This is where I come for reflection and recreation — I love to swim, snorkel, fish, hike and

snow ski.

Water enabled my own reinvention. After facing a serious health crisis several years back, I embarked

on an extensive physical therapy regimen. Aquatic therapy formed the cornerstone of my recovery,

cushioning my body and enabling me to rebuild muscle, increase flexibility, gain strength and im-

prove balance. Water provided the ideal therapeutic environment. Now I’m back at work for our dynamic

company and grateful for my colleagues who stood by me all the way. They are the beating heart of all

we do.

WILKENWILKENLORIN

PERFECT AND POWERFUL.WATER IS SIMPLE,

IT REINVENTS LANDSCAPES, AND

SPACE INTO AN ECOSYSTEM. IT TRANSFORMED A ROCK IN

Photos by Jaysen Turner and Robert M. Brown

REINVENT THE WORLD AROUND US.

23

Reinvention opens up new possibilities and pathways. I started out as a percussion

performance major in college before switching to physics and ended up with a

Ph.D. in nuclear astrophysics. From particle physics, I transitioned to a new area of

expertise. Now I’m part of the NG Next basic research team working as a senior scientist

in the search for life group.

I lift weights because I love feeling physically strong. I studied physics to

be mentally strong. Both strengthen your will power and resolve. Both make

me a stronger, better person capable of achieving my goals.

HINNERSHINNERSTRISHA

McKINNEYMcKINNEYKENNETH

Intellectual property is the lifeblood of this company. Every new idea has the potential to profoundly change

a product or a process. Whether these inventions are incremental or substantial, they are the essential

intellectual compound to develop disruptive products. I enjoy advising and leading my colleagues as they journey

to seek new inventions. It’s great to see them bask in the pride that comes with having their unique idea recognized

and protected.

No one’s yet gotten a patent on plain old water, but it’s the perfect invention. As a chemical compound, it is

uniquely elegant, and essential for living organisms. As an avid hiker, I am in awe of its transformative power. I

plan my treks around water sources. While on backcountry journeys, your life not only depends upon knowing where

to find it, but also the ability to filter it into potable drinking water.

BORGESBORGESJOSE

We are water. All of us — no matter the dif-ferences that make us uniquely ourselves —

share this fundamental compound at our core. I like to think of us as a palette of colored water

glasses. Line them up, and you comprehend the awesomeness that diversity brings to our lives

and our company.

As a mechanical engineer with an MBA, I understand how the laws of math and science

guide a successful enterprise, but it’s through my work on inclusion, community service and

STEAM initiatives that I understand the true power of reinvention. Each employee brings

their distinctive talents, background and point of view to our company’s true colors … all of us,

like vessels filled with water, creating a unique spectrum of colors that will reinvent the future

of our company.

I’ve worked on the production line in St Augustine for years. We’ve reinvented the

Hawkeye in ways big and small over decades. Today’s Advanced Hawkeye is revolutionary in

some respects as far as capabilities and inside the cockpit. But that same rugged airframe

remains pretty much recognizable from its initial design.

Like most people who work with hardware, machines and metal, I have a great respect

for how water makes it all happen. It’s in the coolant, the lubricants, the fuel. It’s a

solvent that serves a million different roles in making our machines work. And no one’s ever

reinvented a better way of cleaning your ride and making it look amazing.

SWEENEYSWEENEYMIKE

HudsonBay

“Our team worked with SDZG to plan flight operations and share practical information like how to avoid hypothermia,” said Ross. “We knew the cold would be a challenge, but we came together as a team and proved we could fly in the Arctic.”

The team flew missions using an all-electric, fixed-wing aircraft with a 14-foot wingspan and a custom fuselage to accommodate several optical sensors. The plane was also equipped with multi-terrain landing gear and environmental packaging.

By their last flight, they had doubled operational time and provided imagery to SDZG scientists. It was not easy.

“We made progress each day we were in the field,” said program manager Melissa Stoneman. “With limited time to test their equipment, no logistics tail to bring in needed parts and a requirement to operate outside for hours at a time, Polar Eye showed why they were selected for the Wildlife Challenge.”

Polar Eye attributes their success to individual skill sets, team bonding and close collaboration with SDZG scientists. It is this type of cross-disciplinary knowledge and experi-ence that will help Northrop Grumman design future systems — and ideally help scientists preserve polar bears and their special habitat.

competed to develop unmanned aerial systems to help researchers study the movement of pack ice glaciers and how polar bears use the ice.

Following successful test flights in San Diego County last fall, Polar Eye, the Florida team, packed up their ruggedized plane, spare parts and head-to-toe thermal clothing to join SDZG colleagues at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre along the Hudson Bay coastline. The 11-person team (seven from Northrop Grumman, four from SDZG) spent nearly a week on the ground to prove their design could fly and collect data in some of the toughest conditions on the planet.

“We were so excited to bring our technology to the Arctic in support of San Diego Zoo Global’s polar bear conservation efforts and our company’s vision of advancing human discovery,” said team member Jessi Ross.

Temps Go Down, Plane Goes UpReflecting ever-changing Arctic conditions, it rained in Churchill the day before the team arrived at their operating base. But the team got a good dose of Arctic weather by the time they hit the ice. Temperatures around zero degrees Fahrenheit, and gusty winds, made for an even more difficult operational environment.

In November, Northrop Grumman engineers and San Diego Zoo Global (SDZG) scientists traveled to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, at the edge of the Arctic tundra, to validate autonomous flight technology they hope will help answer critical research questions.

From Sunny Climes to the Frozen NorthThe project started in August with the launch of the Wildlife Challenge, the latest installment in Aerospace Systems’ series of Innovation Challenges. Four teams — three from California (San Diego, Space Park/El Segundo and Palmdale) and one from Melbourne/St. Augustine, Fla. —


Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

By Daniel HazardTAKES FLIGHT INNOVATION Scientists studying polar bears and the Arctic have a problem. Because of the region’s extreme weather and limits to existing technology, they are unable to collect the type of localized data needed to understand how climate change impacts this iconic species and its environment.

(r)innovation

WE WERE SO EXCITED TO BRING OUR TECHNOLOGY TO THE ARCTIC IN SUPPORT OF SAN DIEGO ZOO

GLOBAL’S POLAR BEAR CONSERVATION EFFORTSAND OUR COMPANY’S VISION OF ADVANCING

HUMAN DISCOVERY.

—Jessi Ross Engineer”

27

By Ann Carney

Created, designed and run by (and for) employees, FabLabs serve as 24/7 open-door invitations to come in, get your hands dirty and build something — or, just experiment.

Together, these FabLabs offer such resources as 3-D printers, workshop areas dedicated to electronics, car-pentry, sheet metal and plastics — even industrial sewing centers — and collaboration spaces with comforta-ble seating where folks can kick back, exchange ideas and brainstorm new ones. Toss in an array of computers, projectors, saws, sanders, lathes, benches, moveable whiteboards and a mountain of hand tools. In other words, these facilities serve as a kind of “Santa’s workshop” for engineers, technicians, mechanics, graphic designers and all other employees.

“This has been an exciting project for the entire St. Augustine site,” said Rachael Kubly, integration manager. “The project’s 12-member Leadership Council worked on the plans for seven months. Now that it’s a reality, it’s rewarding to see employees coming in and enthusiastically working on something, or just popping in to satis-fy their curiosity. We’re all intrigued about what innovations this new facility will help create.”

An initial Safety 101 class is required to use the basic resources in the labs. But since they are run by employee volunteers, those wanting to learn

how to operate certain equipment can simply reach out and ask more skilled employees to show them how.

And speaking of learning something new, San Diego’s FabLab offers some cool classes. “How to be a Coffee Snob” is one. It’s like a class for wine connoisseurs, only with java. There is also a “Surf’s Up” class on how to build a surfboard out of composite material. For art lovers, there are painting classes — even one on spray painting. And bi-monthly, an employee “artist” is selected to display his or her artwork within the FabLab, similar to a gallery showing.

Northrop Grumman’s first FabLab opened in fall 2014 at Space Park in Redondo Beach, Calif. Last year, more than 20 employee volunteers used that space to work as a team and create a device that has helped a talented artist with muscular dys-trophy extend his career. That’s the kind of inspirational, “make it happen” results FabLabs can help produce.

Melbourne’s FabLab is getting finishing touches and is scheduled to officially open early this year. What will be novel there? Among other items, virtual- and augmented-reality headsets and glasses, providing employees experiences such as virtual-reality tours of the inside of Northrop Grumman planes.

The potential benefit to Aerospace Systems, and the company overall, is mind boggling. These labs will help unleash a plethora of innovation, to say the least. With three new FabLabs, employees on both coasts will have endless opportunities to take all those “What if….” ideas in their heads and, with tools in their hands, make them reality. Maybe the end products will turn out just as predicted, be “spot on” and work great. Or, they might yield unexpected discoveries — maybe even a patent or two. FabLabs help make anything possible. And that’s pretty fabulous.

FABLABS: TRIPLE PLAY

FOR INNOVATION

The “Fab” doesn’t stand for fabulous, but it could. Last fall, Northrop Grumman’s Centers of Excellence in St. Augustine and Melbourne, Fla., and San Diego initiated fabrication laboratories, or FabLabs — mini powerhouses of high-tech creativity and off-the-charts innovation.

Lauren Wilhelm and Lindsey Sweeney at the San Diego FabLab.

Photo by Terry Phrang

Our FabLab will allow hands-on experience

with designs,” said Lindsey Sweeney,

mechanical engineer, who co-leads the

San Diego FabLab. “It will promote knowledge

sharing between generations and foster engagement. I’m eager to see what this FabLab will do for our company

and community.

“

”26 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017

(r)innovation


GLOBAL HAWK:

The achievement was made possible by the SHOUT (Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology) project, a partnership between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that focuses on sensing high-impact, weather-related hazards. The mission is part of NOAA’s work to improve our nation’s preparedness for and resilience to hurricanes and other severe storms.

In the face of an impending weather crisis, NASA Global Hawk delivered on its mission to capture critical weather data. Operating initially from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia and later from NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., the NASA Global Hawk flew nine flights from Aug. 24 through Oct. 9. Sixteen Northrop Grumman Global Hawk system personnel were involved in mission planning and control, piloting, engineering, avionics and cockpit support. In August, data collected from one of the flights was used by NOAA and the National Hurricane Center to upgrade Gaston from a tropical storm to a hurricane, the first time

data from an unmanned aircraft was used to make this type of classification. In early October, the aircraft was deployed to Florida to gather data as Hurricane Matthew approached the coast.

NASA and Northrop Grumman are partnered under the Space Act Agreement, which allows for shared use of the NASA Global Hawk system to conduct scientific experiments and explore new mission capabilities. The aircraft is equipped with instruments to profile the inner workings of storms, including:

• Dropsondes (expendable weather reconnaissance devices) that are released from the aircraft to profile tempera- ture, pressure, wind speed and direction

• High-Altitude Imaging Wind and Rain (HIWRAP), an instrument that measures precipitation and wind speed

• High-Altitude MMIC Sounding Radiometer (HAMSR), a micro- wave sounder instrument that takes vertical profiles of tem- perature and humidity

After the mission, in a congratu-latory message to team members, Philip Kenul, NOAA Rear Admiral (retired), noted the “outstanding professionalism and can-do attitude demonstrated by the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk team.” He further stated, “None of this could have been accomplished without the Northrop Grumman team that worked so diligently in every facet of the operation and always went the extra yard to make this the success it was. What impressed me most was the pride you took in your work and the aircraft. This effort resulted in the most comprehensive set of observations to date from an unmanned aircraft in a tropical storm environment.”

Previous NASA Global Hawk missions have included examining the effects of greenhouse gases, surveying El Niño weather patterns and conducting cutting-edge autonomous aerial refueling trials.

NASAThis past fall, at the peak of the hurricane season, NASA Global Hawk continued its groundbreaking mission to support weather preparedness efforts through a series of quick-turn deployments, resulting in the most comprehensive set of observations to date from an unmanned aircraft in a tropical storm environment.

SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUTBy Greg Lund

NASA Global Hawk’s flight path during Hurricane Matthew.

Photo courtesy of NOAA and NASA

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across (r)sector


EMPLOYEE SURVEYTHE NUMBERS

87% RESPONSE RATE (down 1% from 2015)

18,028

EMPLOYEES RESPONDED (up 800 from 2015)

30,000

COMMENTS RECEIVED (up 18,000 from 2015)

15,000

responding employees were mapped to over 400 programs, letting us identify trends and determine what kinds of action we need to take and where

By Brooke Miner

THE NUMBERS

4,002,687

HOURS SAVED IN 2016

860 TOTAL SUBMISSIONS IN 34 CATEGORIES

394 SUBMISSIONS IN 2016 (up from 345 in 2015 and 121 in 2014)

OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAM INCLUDE:• An effort to transform meetings — and reduce the amount of time employees spend away from innovating in meetings with non-value-added activities

• Authorized use of digital signatures on sector and corporate forms

• A user-friendly Facilities web portal

• A simplified lost-item reporting form

• Distribution of new company computers with SSD drives and upgraded RAM

• A simple online form to donate PTO hours

• A new PMP process based upon Busting Bureaucracy idea sub- mitters’ feedback and comments

• Enhanced internal search capability utilizing Google principles

• Support for Busting Bureaucracy migration company wide

One of the biggest steps we’ve taken to make your work life easier and your workday more productive is the launch of the Northrop Grumman

THE HIGHLIGHTSWHAT: In the category of Accountability, we saw a 4% increase since 2015.

HOW WE GOT THERE: In addition to team action plans, we launched eight Sector Action Teams, each led by an executive sponsor, to focus on key areas needing improvement. Progress was tracked and reported quarterly.

WHAT: In the category of Immediate Manager Effectiveness, we saw a 4% increase since 2015.

HOW WE GOT THERE: We took action to improve frontline manager capabilities by decreasing the number of direct reports a manager can have and by implementing a two-day New Manager Development Program. Approximately 1,000 new managers will participate in the program in 2017.

WHAT: We also saw improvements in the categories of Obstacles and Tools, Equipment and Resources.

HOW WE GOT THERE: In terms of removing obstacles to make it easier to do your job and providing a centralized vehicle to challenge traditional ways of doing things, one of our sector’s biggest success sto-ries is Busting Bureaucracy. And we are continuing efforts to improve your user experience, such as installing pervasive Wi-Fi to improve wireless connectivity throughout our facilities.

One of the programs you talked about the most — with 1,257 comments in the survey — is Busting Bureaucracy. This program lets you submit suggestions for ways to get rid of non-value-added work, giving you back time to innovate and create.

Since the program started, 57% of submitted ideas have been closed, with 24% receiving the “busted” designation.

Employee Services Town Center, or NEST. NEST is our initiative to create a work environment that meets your needs and inspires collaboration and creativity. Depending on your location, your NEST might include:

• Café or food court

• Child care services

• Employee store

• Fitness center

• Collaboration spaces or lounges

• Bank, credit union and/or ATM

• Car wash

• Dry cleaning

• Electric car charging stations

• Employee portraits

• FabLab

• Food trucks

• Lactation rooms

• Medical office and/or telemedicine kiosk

• PC service center or other IT services

• Battery recycling

• Shuttle flights

Find out what’s available to you at https://as.myngc.com/NEST.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARDWe can’t act on ideas we don’t know about, so keep your feedback coming. One of the best ways to do that is via the employee survey (stay tuned for details later this year). In addition, if you have a suggestion for a way to eliminate non-value-added work, submit it on the Busting Bureaucracy website.

BUSTING BUREAUCRACY

NEST

Your feedback on how we can make Aerospace Systems the best place to work has led to the development of new programs and processes for a more productive and collaborative workplace. With your input, we’re working to remove barriers and enrich your employee experience. Here are some of the actions we as a sector took in 2016 as a result of your feedback, much of which we received via the employee survey.


team this small would be fighting fires all day, but their strategic focus on the things that matter has made them very successful.

: How is working in the U.K. different from working in the United States?

Muk: Other than having biscuits and tea available on demand, working in the U.K. is fairly similar to working in the United States. Work ethics are similar. There’s a significant amount of travel involved since we support all of Europe. Additionally, there are off-hours meetings, like customer dinners or weekend airshows. The team is incredibly understanding, and there’s a culture of flexible working conditions so that we can be effective.

: Anything else you think is interesting?

Muk: The personal travel has been amazing. Weekend trains to Paris, flights to the Mediterranean or a countryside getaway in the U.K. are all reasonably priced and easy to do. Public transportation is also incredibly easy; barely anyone in London owns a car. Also, something that I was expecting but has been hard to get used to is that words are spelled differently: color vs. colour, defense vs. defence. There are also those that mean completely different things and can really get you into trouble.

Systems Engineer Mukundh Pandian is currently deployed to the United Kingdom on a two-year rotational assignment as Aerospace Systems technical lead, Europe, as part of the Global Engineer Rotation program. (r)evolution asked him what he thinks so far.

(r)evolution: How long have you been in the U.K., and how much longer will you be there?

Muk: I’ve been here since the beginning of February 2016 on a two-year commitment, and the year has flown by! I will be here until my replacement comes in early 2018. It has been a great time both professionally and personally.

: What is your role there?

Muk: The primary responsibilities are executing Aerospace Systems’ U.K. and Europe strategy from a technical perspective and supporting priority captures. Day-to-day, this includes developing customer contacts, responding to customer inquiries, vetting the technical capabilities of industry partners, supporting in-country technology demonstrations, screening research and development opportunities, supporting cross-sector strategy development at the corporate office and performing customer/competitive intelligence at trade shows and events. I love the diversity of customers, products and activities I get to experience.

While my primary responsibility is to Aerospace Systems, I sit in the corporate office, which makes it easy to collaborate across sectors. There have been several occasions where I’ve supported the overall branding of Northrop Grumman or supported other sectors directly.

: Is the job what you expected? What about the country?

Muk: The job turned out to be more exciting than I expected. The biggest difference in expectation was the number of campaigns going on across our entire product portfolio in the U.K. and Europe. Because of where I’m positioned, it’s easy for me to support campaigns throughout all of Europe — it could be a global offset conference in Spain, a NATO exercise in Naples, Italy, or a defense forum in Poland.

Additionally, while most of the other priority regions work with one to two customers, there are 50 different countries on the European continent, each with different cultures, politics and acquisition processes. Thinking through the dynamics in each market has been one of the most interesting parts of the job.

: What has stood out to you the most?

Muk: The agility and high perfor-mance of the small business development team. Typically, a

Q A&

By Geri MacDonald

MUKUNDHwith

PANDIAN

across (r)sector

Illustration of Mukundh Pandian by Brandon Balasbas Illustration of London landmarks by Gloria Sola

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V ICTORBELONG THE SPOILS

By Kevin Gonzalez

2007, 2008 and 2011. In the context of aviation history, five victories earn an Ace designation for Northrop Grumman.

José Castellon, a director of Systems Engineering and team advisor, recalled the event’s early days: “From the beginning, we took a OneNG approach to develop a microcosm of how a team should be formed.” Castellon continued, “We treat all the students and employees as one big familia. We set expectations, execute to our plan and have lots of fun along the way!”

College Bowl is a real opportunity for the company to recruit in a unique way because students are engaged in activities where they can demonstrate their skill sets, rather than just talking about them. At this year’s conference career fair,

College Bowl is an optional event during the HENAAC conference, where engineering students can join teams to compete for scholarships. The teams are led by companies and government agencies, who coach the students and judge the competition. Northrop Grumman’s teams were sponsored by the corporate One Adelante employee resource group, with employee participants coming from various Adelante chapters. The students endure five competitive rounds in events like skits, model building and a game of Deal or No Deal with an engineering twist. In 2016, approximately 300 students competed, representing 28 companies and agencies. The competition is fervent, and it gives Northrop Grumman a targeted opportunity for branding, recruitment and professional development.

Members of Northrop Grumman’s teams, NG One and NG Alpha, coached several competitive rounds, during which students showcased their leadership and teamwork skills in topics relevant to STEM careers. “This is my sixth year participating as a Northrop Grumman employee,” said David Rodriguez, team coordinator and project engineer in Ground Product Engineering and Integration. “As team coordinators, we’ve developed a ‘train the way you’re supposed to fly’ strategy. We put our coaches through the wringer with simulations to prepare them for the competition”.

Heritage company TRW began participating in the HENAAC College Bowl in 2000. This year’s Northrop Grumman championship team now joins the company’s other winning teams, who took first place in 2004,

35

Northrop Grumman teams won first and second place in the 2016 Hispanic Engineer National Award & Achievement Conference (HENAAC) College Bowl in Anaheim, Calif., in October, a feat no other company has achieved in the competition’s 17-year history.

TO THE Northrop Grumman conducted 196 interviews, resulting in more than 40 job offers.

Reina Villanueva, systems engi-neer in Communications Systems, Specialty & Safety Management, said, “When I was a student, all my friends and I wanted to be on the Northrop Grumman team.” She added, “I liked the culture and the people — it didn’t feel like applying to a company where I didn’t know anyone.” Rodriguez was an assistant coach when Reina participated in the event as a California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, electrical

“From the beginning, we took a OneNG approach to develop a microcosm of how a team should be formed. We treat all the students and employees as one big familia. We set expectations, execute to our plan and have lots of fun along the way!”

ABOUT ADELANTEAdelante is a Hispanic all-inclusive employee resource group, committed to fostering leadership through networking, professional development and community involvement in correlation with Northrop Grumman business objectives.

engineering student. “We had her as a student so we knew her strengths, and we’ve seen her develop as a leader,” he said. “This year she was an assistant coach.”

On the team’s victory, Villanueva shared, “I got quite emotional when we won, reflecting back on all my personal experiences at College Bowl. We’re proud to work for Northrop Grumman, and in that environment you really feel the pride!”

If you are interested in participa-ting in College Bowl, contact the Adelante ERG.

College Bowl team members celebrate an unprecedented fifth win.

Photo by Daniel Perales

—José Castellon Director of Systems Engineering

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Debbie suffers from primary biliary cholangitis, a rare and debilitating liver disease. Treatment options are extremely limited, the primary one being a liver transplant. “It’s not well-known, there’s no cure for it,” Michael explains.

“I thought I was going to die,” Debbie adds.

Testing went from May 2015 through January 2016. Debbie’s doctor even volunteered — and was rejected. Eight people had been tested, and time was running out. The next decision would be one of faith: move to No. 9 on the list, or skip ahead to No. 21, longtime friend Royal Gardner, director of Operations for Autonomous Systems at Palmdale?

The decision was made. “I called Royal and said, ‘Hey buddy, you’re up!’” says Mike. “He was in Arizona the following week.”

While Royal was in Arizona, Debbie had another heart attack and ended up in a coma. Not expected to recover, she was removed from the transplant list. Two days later, Royal called from Arizona. He was a match.

Mike’s heart sank. “We missed it by two days,” he says. Debbie was airlifted to Phoenix, and they spent the next three months trying to get her healthy enough to requalify for the transplant. And Royal was waiting. “As soon as I get the call, I’m there,” he told Mike.

Debbie’s recovery was difficult, but after doctors implanted a defibrillator and pacemaker, Mayo agreed to relist her. Soon, they were able to proceed with the transplant.

During the past several years, Debbie’s condition deteriorated. Because her liver wasn’t properly filtering her blood, toxins began building up in her brain — a condition known as hepatic encephalopathy. Without a liver transplant, Debbie would die.

She was accepted into the Mayo Clinic’s transplant program, but, according to Mike, she wouldn’t survive long enough to get a liver from a deceased donor. Instead, her doctors suggested the little-known live-donor program. When no relatives were a match, Mike turned to his Northrop Grumman family, asking his coworkers to consider getting tested.

Mike and Debbie were overwhelmed at how many volunteered. After initial screening, 37 employees stepped up and offered to undergo the grueling weeklong testing regimen at Mayo’s Phoenix facility. Debbie says, “That’s actually unheard of. The clinic didn’t even know how to handle that kind of response.”

Meanwhile, Debbie’s condition continued to decline. Twice, she briefly died, going into cardiac and respiratory arrest until Mike was able to resuscitate her. And volunteer after volunteer was rejected. “She was getting sicker, and every one of them was being disqualified,” says Mike.


By Alan Radecki

FAMILIES

GIVEOF THEMSELVES — LITERALLY

Photos by Michael O’Keefe

Northrop Grumman employees often describe their fellow workers as family: It is a culture that Jack Northrop and Leroy Grumman both fostered, and which remains vibrant today. Michael O’Keefe, manager of Manufacturing Engineering at the Palmdale Aircraft Integration Center of Excellence, and his wife, Debbie, recently discovered this firsthand. Their lives were immensely impacted — and Debbie’s saved — because of the depth of that family bond.

WHEN YOU GET MARRIED,

YOU PROMISE IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH. I ALWAYS

JOKE, IF THEY WERE A LITTLE MORE SPECIFIC, YOU

WOULDN’T BE SO QUICK TO ANSWER

YES. BUT I TAKE THAT COMMITMENT SERI-

OUSLY. THE LAST THREE YEARS HAVE

BEEN TOUGH. IT’S BEEN A FULL-TIME JOB JUST KEEPING

HER ALIVE.

“

”

(r)community


Royal’s surgery lasted 10 hours, Debbie’s eight. “Normally, the donor gives 70 percent of their liver,” says Royal. “My liver was large enough that Debbie only needed 48 percent.”“The surgeon said I probably had about two more weeks to live,” adds Debbie.

There is still a lot ahead for Mike and Debbie. Mike says, “She’s made such progress from where she was, but the road back’s gonna be tough. To actually have been dead … it’s a long climb back.”

For Royal, there was never a hesitation in volunteering. “I’ll tell you what kind of man Royal is,” says Debbie. “He sacrificed. He risked his own life for a friend. He was calming me down before the surgery.”

As a result, Debbie and Royal are very close. “I think our relationship can never be broken,” says Royal. “We share, at least for the next year, even DNA. Literally.”

Besides volunteering to donate their liver, many employees donated PTO. “All the people who prayed, the phone calls, the letters, the encouragement, the people who helped Mike through this, the people who donated … I don’t know what we would have done without them,” says Debbie. “It’s so humbling. It’s been an amazing place for Mike to work. It’s just like a family. I’m glad he works there.”

I’LL TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF MAN ROYAL IS,” SAYS DEBBIE. “HE SACRIFICED. HE RISKED HIS OWN LIFE FOR A FRIEND. HE WAS CALMING ME DOWN BEFORE THE SURGERY.

“

Help grow our world-class workforce with diverse and experienced professionals like you.

Our Employee Referral Awards Program (ERAP) provides employees with cash awards for each

referral hired on eligible positions.

We are all recruiters.

Learn more at https://as.myngc.com/HIRE©

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JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2017 - Northrop · PDF file4 january/february 2017 5 36 families give of themselves — literally by alanradecki q&a across the pond by gerimacdonald 32 34 to the