By Ann Tropea, Editor in Chief, and Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Northrop Grumman Corporation has formed its team to bid on the E-XX program, the recapitalization of the U.S. Navy’s strategic communications aircraft, a component of the nation’s nuclear strategic deterrent force.
The E-XX program is designed to produce a replacement for the Navy’s E-6B Mercury strategic communications aircraft that provides reliable command-and-control connectivity to the ballistic-missile submarines that carry Trident nuclear-armed missiles and the Air Force’s ground-based strategic missiles.
“We are very excited about the opportunity that we have today to announce the superior team that we have put together to pursue, capture, and deliver the United States Navy’s next powerful weapon system,” said Jane Bishop, vice president & general manager, Northrop Grumman, briefing reporters at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Expo in National Harbor. “The expected cargo aircraft will be based upon the C-130J-30 platform and it will provide survivable, reliable and endurable command, control and communications connectivity, which is obviously very important for our national command authority to be able to communicate with ballistic submarines that are obviously capable of delivering nuclear weapons. It is absolutely crucial that the team that we put together has extensive knowledge as well as experience and weapons system integration and battle management, command, and control.”
Bishop announced the members of the Northrop Grumman capture team:
- Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
- Raytheon Intelligence and Space
- Crescent Systems Inc.
- Long Wave Inc.
“This is an all-star lineup of domain experts that we feel positioned us very well,” she said.
“Developing this team has been strategic and intentional to ensure that collectively we are an unmatched and unparalleled team, making us the optimal choice, as Jane said, to right size this mission for the United States Navy,” said Henry Cyr, director of Multi-Domain Command and Control Capture Programs for Northrop Grumman. “Together, we will go fast. We will be secure on this. Can’t fail the nuclear command control communication mission. And we are ready to take charge and move out.”
“Our 21st century security vision is designed to help the U.S. and its allies leverage emerging technologies, capitalizing on advancements in artificial intelligence, capitalizing on the increase of processing power,” said Mike Acree, director, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Skunk Works. “And as the 5G mil infrastructure continues to build, ensuring that the U.S. and its allies is leveraging all those technologies to ensure it’s effective in the future in constant, increasingly more complex battlespace. This mission advances the highly capable national security platform’s command and control access across all domains. … We’re developing operations in an integrated digital environment and we’re going to deliver an open system architecture that meets the compliance standards for open systems. We look forward to working with this industry dream team and will bring to bear this work C-130 mission systems integration expertise to develop a survival solution tailored to the U.S. Navy’s most critical missions in support of its tactical fleet.”
“Our resilient communication solutions are critical enablers to what we do around multi-domain operations and the nuclear command control communications enterprise,” said Paul Mongillo, vice president, Requirements and Capabilities Group, Surveillance and Network Systems. So, we’re looking forward to being part of that environment. We’re proud to be able to provide our systems integration expertise to the Navy’s E-XX program.”
“We’re excited to be part of this team,” said Clark Red, chief executive officer and co-founder of Crescent Systems. “Our focus has always been on providing the men and women who stay on alert with the best tools possible to do their job. We understand the significance of this critical system. We understand the importance as it runs 24/7/365 and the importance of it as a never-fail mission.”
“Long Wave’s first contract about 30 years ago was with the VLF Propagation Analysis for Strategic Communications,” said Tom “TC” Conroe, executive vice president of Long Wave Inc. “The E-6 community has been central to our business. It’s been a true focus on everything we do.”
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of Seapower Magazine, bringing extensive experience as an
editor, attorney, and communications professional with 20+
years of experience leading teams across industries and
organizations.
As a defense litigation attorney in New Orleans, Ann drafted
both federal and state legal arguments as well as publishing
legal articles in professional journals. She is also the former
managing editor of the online news website TheLatest.com,
where, in addition to managing the editorial staff and
contributing writers, she was the regular food and lifestyle
section writer.
Additional writing and publishing experience include: editing and self-publishing a community
cookbook for the (now former) U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, serving as the managing
editor of the Law Journal for the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, the editor-in-chief
of the magazine for the New York University Department of Culture and Communication, and
the associate publisher for the New York City lifestyle publication GO Magazine.
Ann is also an experienced public speaker, including for the University of Maryland’s business
school, the annual Women Officer Leadership conference for AcademyWomen, and American
Councils for International Education.
Ann is also a podcast host and producer, independent filmmaker, and is proficient in French. She
is currently based in Baltimore City, where she lives with her husband, two children, and rescue
dog.
Ann holds a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and graduated magna
cum laude in mass media communication studies from New York University
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