U.S. Army Airship Completes Historic Flight

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX- LAKEHURST, N.J., Aug. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited announce the successful completion of the first flight of the U.S. Army's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) in historic Lakehurst, N.J., the birthplace of the nation's storied military airship past.

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120810/LA55954-a)

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120810/LA55954-b)

The LEMV, a first-of-its-kind airship, took to the sky at 6:49 p.m. Eastern time and flew for more than 90 minutes over Lakehurst Naval Air Station.

In the shadows of the century old Hangar One, this major milestone represents the commencement of the flight test program, and demonstrates that Northrop Grumman and its industry partners have successfully developed the world's largest, most-persistent, lighter-than-air optionally piloted aircraft.

Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/.

"The entire U.S. Army/Northrop Grumman industry team has done an outstanding job working through a technically challenging program, demonstrating strong teamwork to achieve this first flight milestone," said Alan Metzger, vice president and program manager of Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle and Airships for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "This platform will establish a new standard for a long-endurance, persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability over the battlefield."

In an environment of tight budgets and acquisition reform, the U.S. Army/Northrop Grumman team successfully demonstrated its nontraditional approach in the execution of this technically challenging program.

LEMV was designed, built and flown in a short 24 months, a considerable accomplishment for a vehicle of this scale and complexity.

LEMV will provide unprecedented ISR capabilities to the U.S. Army in the form of an "unblinking stare" over ground troops, ranging anywhere from one day to multiple weeks. The endurance ability of the LEMV system comes from a design that is built around Hybrid Air Vehicles Limited's HAV304 aircraft design and Northrop Grumman's open system architecture design, which provides a modular and flexible payload capability along with room for mission expansion and growth.

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