Northrop Grumman’s strong relationship with nations in the Gulf region is built on a legacy of trust and performance and the company seeks to build on the same for mutual benefit, according to Mr Gene Fraser, Vice President, Aerospace Engineering, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

Northrop Grumman is a premier developer, integrator, producer and supporter of manned and unmanned aircraft, spacecraft, high-energy laser systems, microelectronics and other systems and subsystems critical to maintaining the nation’s security. Mr Fraser attended the inaugural Global Aerospace Summit held in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi recently.

“Northrop Grumman has had an active presence in the Middle East for decades with regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. We have been privileged to support of a variety of defense and civil programs, and look forward to more building upon these relationships for years to come, Mr Fraser told the Nation Shield, the official journal of the UAE Armed Forces, in an in-depth interview on matters relating to regional security and defense

He said Northrop Grumman’s strong relationship with nations in the Gulf region is built on a legacy of trust and performance. “Northrop Grumman has had an active presence in the Middle East for decades with regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. We have been privileged to support of a variety of defense and civil programs, and look forward to more building upon these relationships for years to come,” he said.

Northrop Grumman felt the participation at the Abu dhabi Summit was extremely valuable and informative, according to Mr Fraser.

“The Global Aerospace Summit was a strategic gathering of global industry leaders discussing future growth strategies and brought together national and international executives from across the aerospace, aviation and space sectors.

“The opportunity to exchange ideas with a wide spectrum of participants is invaluable in providing long-term capability solutions that will help enhance defense and national security across the Gulf Region,” he said.

Northrop Grumman provides long term capability solutions to enhance defense and national security across the Gulf. Against that backdrop, the summit was very relevant to the company, Mr Fraser said.

“One aspect of the Summit that was particularly valuable was gaining better insight into the innovative capabilities being developed within the UAE that have a direct relevance to the U.S. aerospace industry and, in some cases, present possible partnership opportunities,” he said.

He pointed out that Northrop Grumman has had an active presence in the Middle East for decades with its regional headquarters in Abu Dhabi and as such the long association had developed into a key partnership.

Referring to the partnership with Mubadala Aerospace to collaborate on various high technology aerospace and aviation education and training programs, he said Northrop Grumman and Mubadala Aerospace continue to work together on various high technology aerospace and aviation education and training programs, aimed at further strengthening the UAE’s economic development strategy.

He said Northrop Grumman was a leading global security and defense solutions company with strong ties with the GCC countries. “I’ll offer two key examples of our long term relationships in the GCC. Northrop Grumman’s history in the Gulf dates back to 1971 with the acquisition of the F-5 fighter aircraft by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Today, we provide services in the Kingdom in a variety of areas and are currently offering new capabilities to meet identified requirements. We, along with Boeing, provide the F/A-18 to Kuwait beginning in 1991, which has resulted in another strong partnership,” he said.

He spoke highly of the association with the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi to promote STEM-related education and the Rodeo competition on unmanned technology held for students saying it was “a pioneering” step. He said the collaboration yielded several lessons.

“The MoU that Northrop Grumman and Higher Colleges of Technology signed in 2010 was aimed at opportunities to collaborate and explore ways to enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related education (STEM) in areas that build local capacity across various sectors in the UAE.

“The successful 2012 Innovation Challenge is a direct result of that MoU. All of us who were involved this remain very interested in continuing this educational event and look forward to collaborating on additional opportunities like Innovation Challenge in the future. The Innovation Challenge directly touches an important element of the vision of the UAE leadership in ensuring knowledge and technology is actively transferring to the younger generations.

“Hopefully, the competition will continue to expand and further encourage tomorrow’s generation of Emirati scientists and engineers to develop similar ground-breaking technologies for the future,” he said.

Mr Fraser said both the Dubai Air Show and IDEX provided excellent opportunities to Northrop Grumman to update its contacts with the decision makers in the region.

“The participation in exhibitions like the Dubai Air Show and IDEX provided an opportunity to showcase Northrop Grumman capabilities and programs that have a particular relevance to the current and evolving global security priorities of our customers in the region.

In the case of the Gulf region, this includes Northrop Grumman’s world-leading expertise in airborne early warning and control systems, fire control radars, infrared countermeasures and training and support services. Additionally, these events provide the opportunity to meet face-to-face with current and potential customers strengthening those relationships,” he added.

Northrop Grumman systems are used, primarily by government customers, in many different mission areas including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; communications; battle management; strike operations; electronic warfare; missile defense; earth observation; space science; and space exploration. The systems operate across a wide variety of missions. The defense systems, for example, may have strategic, theater or tactical applications. The Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector, a merger of the former Integrated Systems and Space Technology sectors, created an approximately $10 billion business whose approximately 23,000 employees comprise a premier provider of manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems and advanced technologies critical to our nation’s security.