Northrop Grumman Corporation has achieved a significant milestone by delivering its 8,000th LN-100 inertial navigation system (INS), which provides primary and backup navigation information for a variety of airborne and shipboard platforms.
Kamal Joshi, an engineer at Northrop Grumman, tests the LN-100 inertial navigation system, which provides primary and backup navigation information for a variety of airborne and shipboard platforms.
"After 20 years of continuous production, our LN-100 product continues to provide reliable, high performance to a broad customer community while evolving with emerging needs," said Gorik Hossepian, vice president of Northrop Grumman's Navigation and Positioning Systems business unit.
In production since March 1993, the LN-100 has been delivered to more than 70 customers worldwide and is in use on both tactical and transport aircraft, including U.S. Navy and Air Force platforms such as the F/A-18 Hornet, F-22 Raptor, MH-60 Seahawk, P-3 Orion, EA-6B Prowler, E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System, RC-135, T-45 Goshawk and multiple foreign military platforms. Northrop Grumman's LN-100 is also utilized aboard remotely piloted aircraft, including the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-1 Predator, as well as multiple shipboard platforms.
The LN-100 is a non-dithered GPS-aided INS that utilizes Northrop Grumman's Zero-lock™ gyro (ZLG™) technology. Optimally combining INS and selective availability/anti-spoofing module-compliant GPS features, the LN-100 provides a tightly integrated solution for enhanced position, velocity, attitude and pointing performance. The system features hybrid GPS/INS, free-inertial, and GPS-only navigation solutions.
Northrop Grumman has experience in developing and supporting all current production gyro technologies. Besides its unique Zero-lock™ gyros, it produces spinning mass gyros, ring laser gyros, fiber-optic gyros, micro electro-mechanical system gyros and hemispheric resonator gyros.