INDUSTRY

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Applying innovative concepts to help visualize the future of situational awareness and decision making, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) as prime contractor at the Joint National Integration Center (JNIC), provided key support to its customer as they hosted a meeting of NATO members at the facility Oct. 8. The one-day visit provided an opportunity for NATO members to experience and discuss several vignettes designed to highlight the changing world situation facing NATO today and tomorrow. Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, in partnership with Applied Minds Inc. of Glendale, Calif., staged the production, supported development of several plausible scenarios, created multimedia products used for the vignettes and executed the complex logistics necessary to host the gathering. "The environment is designed to clearly present the situation and facilitate information exchange," said Jerry Agee, vice president and general manager, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems Missile Defense Division. "We are proud to support this important endeavor and apply our lessons learned in advanced command and control collaborative environments to help our country and its allies." The JNIC is the nation's premier missile defense center and has a long history providing international exercise venues. Northrop Grumman has been the prime contractor at the JNIC for more than eight years. In this role, Northrop Grumman utilizes its extensive command and control experience to support the development and application of local and distributed modeling and simulation, wargaming, exercise support, interoperability test, prototyping and analytical tools for ballistic missile defense applications. Northrop Grumman also managed the JNIC infrastructure, including processing, communications and facility operations. Northrop Grumman employs approximately 230 people and oversees more than 500 subcontractor personnel at the JNIC facility. Northrop Grumman is currently working under a memorandum of understanding with BAE SYSTEMS to cooperate on missile defense solutions, focusing specifically in wargaming and modeling and simulation. Northrop Grumman's role and experience at the JNIC allows it to work with BAE to go beyond the planning phase and reach into the critical problem-solving phase that only proven modeling and simulation can offer.