Northrop Grumman History Overview
Northrop Grumman Corporation, based in Los Angeles, has the most robust and advanced Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) programs in the world. Below you will see why our UAV programs truly are… Unmanned. Unmatched.
Northrop Grumman has a rich history in the area of Unmanned Air Vehicles, delivering over 100,000 UAVs throughout its 60-year history. Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems division, located in San Diego, California, is the nucleus of the company's UAV business.
Northrop Grumman traces its UAV heritage back to 1935, when the Radioplane Company was founded by Reginald Denny, a Hollywood actor who enjoyed building radio controlled airplanes. Members of the Radioplane Company were truly pioneers in the UAV industry. Radioplane's first endeavor was a small, radio controlled plane called the RP-1. The Radioplane Company was awarded their first Defense Department contract in 1939, and what would become Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems division was born.
As time went on and technology advanced, largely due to Radioplane's testing and development, UAV capabilities continued to mature. As the country found itself engaged in World War II, Radioplane launched its UAVs into production for use as aerial targets. The most popular series of targets, the KD2R series was developed and more than 76,000 were produced for the U.S. military.
Meanwhile, Ryan Aeronautical was another major player in the UAV business. In 1949, Ryan Aeronautical won a contract to produce the first jet-powered UAV. Ryan completed first flight of the jet-powered Firebee aerial target in 1951. The definitive version of the target, the BQM-34 was put into production in 1959. The expertise of Ryan Aeronautical engineers would also become what is now Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems division.
Back at Radioplane, development of their targets continued and advances in technology realized the first supersonic target, the Q-4B.
In 1962, Northrop purchased Radioplane and names it the Ventura Division, operating in Newbury Park, California. In 1965 Northrop developed the NV-105, which became the BQM-74 aerial target that is still in production and use today.
The Cuban Missile Crises ignited the need for reconnaissance UAV development and the Vietnam War matures it to provide a wide variety of mission-specific platforms at Ryan Aeronautical. During this intense period of UAV development, Ryan developed much of the technology that molds modern-day UAVs. Most noteworthy is Autonomous Navigation and the development of Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles (UCAVs).
As the Vietnam War came to a close, this intense period of development in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles wound down. Both Northrop and Ryan kept UAV technology in place with their aerial targets programs.
In 1985, the modern age of UAVs arrived with Ryan's development of the Model 324 Scarab aerial target. Ryan also won the JSCAMPS contract and develops the BQM-145 Specter UAV.
Meanwhile, another Aerospace company, TRW, was busy at work. In 1993, TRW won an Army contract and developed the medium-altitude reconnaissance RQ-5A Hunter UAV. During this time, Northrop was busy deploying BQM-74 targets to the Middle East in support of Operation Desert Storm, providing them to the military for use as decoys.
In the 1995, Ryan Aeronautical won a contract to develop the Tier II Plus UAV - and the RQ-4 Global Hawk was born. They developed Global Hawk as a high-altitude, long-endurance reconnaissance UAV. Operating 65,000 feet above the earth, it's capable of surveying extremely large areas of the globe during a single, 30 plus-hour mission.
In 1999, Northrop Grumman purchased Ryan Aeronautical, and moved Northrop's heritage BQM-74 program to San Diego to join the heritage Ryan team. This move to San Diego formally created Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems. The facility still retains the name Ryan Aeronautical Center, to recognize the contributions of the Ryan team.
In 2003, Northrop Grumman merged the RQ-5A Hunter, formally part of TRW, into its Unmanned Systems business. With the "best of the best" now merged into one organization, Northrop Grumman now designs and develops the most advanced UAVs in the world.
Northrop Grumman's portfolio of UAVs spans across many different platforms. While our aerial targets programs are the longest running UAV programs in history, further development has realized many other programs and accomplishments. Northrop Grumman's UAV product line now includes the high-altitude long-endurance Global Hawk RQ-4 for the Air Force and Navy; the Fire Scout MQ-8B vertical take off and landing UAV helicopter for the Navy and Army; the Hunter family of medium-altitude UAVs for the Army; and the most advanced UAV of all - the stealthy, Unmanned Combat Air System Navy UCAS. The Navy UCAS will perform highly-complex, autonomous launches and landings aboard Navy aircraft carriers, in addition to autonomous mid-air refueling.
Today, Northrop Grumman has produced over 100,000 UAVs for the U.S. military and our allies, and is proud to continue to support our men and women in uniform for decades to come. It's easy to see why Northrop Grumman's UAV programs are truly… Unmanned. Unmatched.
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