Northrop to Make Laser Weapon
Northrop Grumman Corp., the third-largest U.S. defense contractor, said Tuesday that it planned to finish within 18 months a prototype of a battlefield laser weapon capable of shooting down mortars and rockets, Chief Executive Ronald D. Sugar said.
“Laser weapons aren’t Buck Rogers weapons anymore,” Sugar said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington. “They’re becoming a reality. Almost every day our troops face mortar and rocket fire from insurgents. What if we could shoot down those incoming shells?”
The U.S. must bring its technological advancements to the battlefield in the form of new weapons, such as lasers, and radar that can detect incoming artillery and mortar rounds, Sugar said. Such technology will help U.S. troops win street battles like those now being fought in Iraq, he said.
Over the last four years, the Army has successfully shot down rockets using Northrop’s tactical high-energy laser test bed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, Sugar said. Now the company must develop an operational prototype that could be used on the battlefield.
“Our imperative must be to provide the same asymmetric advantage we now have on the broader battlefield to our troops in the streets and alleyways of Baghdad, Fallouja or wherever they may be,” Sugar, 56, said. “We don’t want our soldiers to have to face insurgents in a fair fight. We want to be able to see the enemy when he can’t see us.”
Century City-based Northrop last week established a new business unit, directed energy systems, as part of its space-technology group. The unit will handle development of the tactical high-energy laser and another weapon called the airborne laser.
Although the Defense Department may cut some large programs for ships and aircraft under a budget proposed this month, there is room for development of new weapons, Sugar said.
On Feb. 3, President Bush said he wanted to increase defense spending next year by 4% to $419.3 billion.
That budget requests funds for the construction of four ships for the Navy instead of the six expected for fiscal 2006. Still, Northrop doesn’t expect to close any of its shipyards because of the company’s significant order backlog, Sugar said.
Northrop, which ranks after Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. in terms of total U.S. defense contracts, is the world’s largest builder of warships. The company said Feb. 2 that its ship unit had a backlog of $13 billion at the end of December, or 22% of the company’s total backlog of $58 billion. The U.S. will need to build seven or eight ships a year to maintain the Navy’s current size, Sugar said.
“A great nation needs a great Navy,” Sugar said. “While it is true that technology will enable us to do more with each ship, it is also true that there is capability in numbers. We must not allow our Navy to atrophy.”
Shares of Northrop fell 28 cents to $53.97 on the New York Stock Exchange.
