Northrop Grumman Marine Radars Are Type Approved to Meet New International Technical Standards

LONDON – Sept. 22, 2008 – Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has successfully completed type-approval testing for the VisionMaster FT™ radar systems under the latest international technical specifications.
 
The type-approval testing, conducted by the U.K. certification body QinetiQ, verifies that the Sperry Marine VisionMaster FT radars meet all of the new requirements of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 62388 Performance Standard and International Maritime Organization (IMO) Resolution MSC192/79, which came into effect July 1, 2008.
 
The new IEC standards were developed in cooperation with the IMO to simplify and improve the existing standards for ships subject to the carriage requirements under the Safety of Life at Sea treaty. The IEC 62388 document specifies minimum standards for detecting and tracking targets, displaying radar data and interfacing with other navigation electronics.
 
“Sperry Marine is one of the first marine radar manufacturers to comply with the new IMO Resolution and IEC Standard,” said J. Nolasco DaCunha, vice president of Sperry Marine. “This is an important milestone and a tribute to the superb engineering team at our U.K. marine radar centre of excellence in New Malden.”
 
The VisionMaster FT family of products was introduced by Sperry Marine last year to provide a highly integrated suite of navigation systems, improving situational awareness for ship’s watch officers and enhancing safety at sea. The scalable suite of products includes marine radars, chart radars, electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS), machine automation and alarms, conning displays and TotalWatch™ multi-function workstations. In January 2008, Sperry Marine received type approval for the VisionMaster FT suite’s ECDIS.
 
QinetiQ is the U.K.’s type approval authority, the body authorized by the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency and European Commission to conduct conformity assessment procedures on marine equipment and issue certificates of type approval.
 
Sperry Marine, headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., and with major engineering and support offices in New Malden, United Kingdom and Hamburg, Germany, provides smart navigation and ship control solutions for the international marine industry with customer service and support through offices in 16 countries, sales representatives in 47 countries and authorized service depots in more than 250 locations worldwide.
 
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defence and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.

By Professional Mariner Staff