united defense vor erhohlung? - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[frank55]

U.S. Navy Selects Northrop Grumman-Led Gold Team For DD(X) System Design Contract $2.9 Billion, Four-Year Program Will Produce Designs for Next-Generation, Transformational Surface Combatants


LOS ANGELES, Apr 29, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Northrop Grumman
Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced today that the U.S. Navy has selected a team
led by the company to complete the system design for the Navy`s advanced, 21st
century surface combatant, DD(X).

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020429/LAM093-a

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020429/LAM093-b )

Northrop Grumman`s Ship Systems sector will lead the system design, engineering
prototype development and testing of the DD(X) System under a $265 million
contract awarded today by the Navy. The team includes Raytheon Company (NYSE:
RTN) as mission systems integrator and more than 30 of the nation`s top
engineering and maritime industrial companies.

The initial design contract has a total value of approximately $2.9 billion over
four years.

"We are very pleased and proud that our DD(X) Gold Team was selected by the
Navy. This revolutionary program reinforces our strategy, begun more than a
decade ago, of repositioning Northrop Grumman for the changing nature of
military conflicts. This is a very important win for our company and we look
forward to working with Raytheon and our other team members to complete this
initial phase of the program," said Kent Kresa, Northrop Grumman chairman and
chief executive officer. "The DD(X) is the centerpiece of the Navy`s 21st
century transformation and is the cornerstone program for a family of surface
combatants to be designed and built over the next 25 years. I am extremely proud
of our employees at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems for leading this effort as
well as our other operating sectors and outstanding teammates who contributed to
the success of the Gold Team`s proposal."

This family of ships includes destroyers, cruisers and littoral combat ships, as
well as technology to be backfitted into today`s existing fleet of
Aegis-equipped cruisers and destroyers.

In addition to four other Northrop Grumman sectors -- Newport News, Information
Technology, Electronic Systems and Integrated Systems -- the DD(X) Gold Team
will include United Defense (NYSE: UDI) and Raytheon. The team will also be
joined by DD(X) Blue Team members General Dynamics` (NYSE: GD) Bath Iron Works
and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

"Our team`s proposal included a bold approach to the development of the very
best ship design and propulsion technologies the country has to offer in
fielding the next generation of surface combatants," said Dr. Philip A. Dur,
corporate vice president and president of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.
"Northrop Grumman has delivered 70 advanced cruisers and destroyers to the
Navy`s surface fleet since 1975. Our vast experience in shipbuilding, coupled
with our expertise in next-generation technologies, will result in a
forward-looking approach to the design and testing of ship systems for the
DD(X). Together with Raytheon`s information technology, sensors and combat
systems, our team will deliver the most capable, most survivable family of ships
ever produced."

This phase of the program will initially employ more than 350 Northrop Grumman
Ship Systems management, engineering, operations and logistical support
personnel over the next four years.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, headquartered in Pascagoula, Miss., includes
facilities in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., as well as New Orleans and
Tallulah, La. The sector, which currently employs more than 17,000 shipbuilding
professionals, primarily in Mississippi and Louisiana, is one of the nation`s
leading full service systems companies for the design, engineering, construction
and life cycle support of major surface ships for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast
Guard and international navies, and for commercial vessels of all types.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is an $18 billion, global defense company with its
worldwide headquarters in Los Angeles. Northrop Grumman provides technologically
advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in defense and commercial
electronics, systems integration, information technology and nuclear and
non-nuclear shipbuilding and systems. With nearly 100,000 employees and
operations in 44 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and
international military, government and commercial customers.

Note: Certain statements and assumptions in this release contain or are based on
"forward-looking" information (that the company believes to be within the
definition in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) and involve
risks and uncertainties. Such "forward-looking" information includes the
statements above as to future impacts on revenues and earnings. Such statements
are subject to numerous assumptions and uncertainties, many of which are outside
the company`s control. These include the company`s ability to successfully
integrate its acquisitions, assumptions with respect to future revenues,
expected program performance and cash flows, the outcome of contingencies
including litigation, environmental remediation, acquisitions and divestitures
of businesses, and anticipated costs of capital investments. The company`s
operations are subject to various additional risks and uncertainties resulting
from its position as a supplier, either directly or as subcontractor or team
member, to the U.S. Government and its agencies as well as to foreign
governments and agencies; actual outcomes are dependent upon factors, including,
without limitation, the company`s successful performance of internal plans;
government customers` budgetary restraints; customer changes in short-range and
long-range plans; domestic and international competition in both the defense and
commercial areas; product performance; continued development and acceptance of
new products; performance issues with key suppliers and subcontractors;
government import and export policies; acquisition or termination of government
contracts; the outcome of political and legal processes; legal, financial, and
governmental risks related to international transactions and domestic and global
needs for ships, military aircraft, military and civilian electronic systems and
support, information technology and other products; as well as other economic,
political and technological risks and uncertainties and other risk factors set
out in the company`s filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, including, without limitation, the company`s reports on Form 10-K
and Form 10-Q.

Northrop Grumman filed a registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-83672)
and a tender offer statement on Schedule TO with the SEC on March 4, 2002 with
respect to its offer to exchange all outstanding shares of TRW capital stock for
Northrop Grumman stock. These documents contain important information. TRW
shareholders should read these documents and any amendments or supplements
thereto before making any decision regarding the offer to exchange. Copies of
such documents may be obtained without charge at the SEC`s website at
www.sec.gov or from D.F. King & Co., Inc. the information agent for the offer to
exchange, at 800-755-7250.

The directors, certain executive officers and other employees and
representatives of Northrop Grumman may be deemed to be participants in the
solicitation of proxies of TRW shareholders in connection with a Special Meeting
of TRW Shareholders to be held on May 3, 2002. Northrop Grumman has filed proxy
materials for this shareholder meeting which contain information regarding such
potential participants. Northrop Grumman`s proxy materials contain important
information and should be read by TRW shareholders. These proxy materials and
any amendments thereto may be obtained at no charge at the SEC`s website at
www.sec.gov as they become available.

[frank55]

[frank55]

United Defense was dropping 11% to $20.25 as worries built around the fate of
the company`s Crusader artillery system. The Pentagon recently told the Army
that it plans to cancel the program in order to focus on more high-tech weapons,
but reports indicate that Army officials have been trying to convince Congress
to keep the Crusader.



Trotzdem übertrieben,der kursrückgang