BETHPAGE, N.Y., Dec. 11, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will replicate its blue radar dome, a focal point of the aerospace industry on Long Island since the late 1950's, on its Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare (AEW&EW) Systems business area headquarters building here. The current dome, known locally as the "blue ball," will remain atop the U.S. Navy-owned Building 5.
"Because of its age, construction and condition, moving the existing dome is not an option. And the building it sits on will not be ours, so we can't maintain it there ourselves. But we came up with an alternative," said Philip A. Teel, sector vice president for AEW&EW Systems, a business area of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems. "We're going to build another one on top of our headquarters building. It will be a new ball but it will maintain the company's proud heritage on Long Island."
The new ball will be put atop Building 25, the AEW&EW Systems headquarters building, painted in the same colors with the company logo and lighted so that it will be visible at all times. The old ball will remain atop Building 5, which will be returned to the Navy on Jan. 1. It will be repainted during the next two weeks before the company vacates the building.
The company is expected to unveil the new ball some time during the first half of next year.
Northrop Grumman is returning Building 5 to the Navy as the company modernizes its buildings in the Bethpage complex. AEW&EW Systems, the largest Northrop Grumman company unit on Long Island, has strived to keep the local landmark as renovation progresses. Rigging firms advised the company that it wasn't feasible to move the current ball because of the age, construction and condition of the fiberglass enclosure.
The dome has been mostly unused during its 43 years. It was built for radar development work in 1958 but only used briefly for that purpose, and was utilized again for a short period during the Lunar Module program.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems, headquartered in Dallas, Tex., is a premier aerospace systems integration enterprise. Integrated Systems has the capabilities to design, develop, integrate, produce and support complete systems, as well as airframe subsystems, for airborne surveillance and battle management aircraft, early warning aircraft, airborne electronic warfare aircraft and air combat aircraft.
Members of the news media may receive our releases via e-mail by registering at: http://www.northgrum.com/cgi-bin/regist_form.cgi
LEARN MORE ABOUT US: Northrop Grumman news releases, product information, photos and video clips are available on the Internet at: http://www.northropgrumman.com. Information specific to the Integrated Systems sector is available at: http://www.iss.northropgrumman.com.