Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has received approval from the Norwegian classification society, Det Norske Veritas, to conduct annual performance testing of shipboard voyage data recorders (VDR).

In 2003, Sperry Marine received similar type approvals from the American Bureau of Shipping and Lloyd’s Register.

Shipboard VDRs are similar to the “black box” data recorders used on aircraft. Data from the ship’s sensors and audio recordings from the bridge are stored in a submersible capsule, which can be recovered for analysis after an event at sea. VDRs are required on all passenger-carrying ships under the International Safety of Life at Sea Convention.

The approvals from the three premier marine classification societies signify that Sperry Marine is authorized to perform the required annual shipboard VDR recertification inspections using its worldwide network of service technicians.

International Maritime Organization regulations state that shipboard VDRs, including all interfaced sensors, must be recertified annually on or before the date of the original installation. The test must be conducted by an approved testing or servicing facility to verify the accuracy, duration and recoverability of the recorded data.

“These approvals are an indication of Sperry Marine’s commitment to continuing investment in technician training and continuous process improvement required to support all of our products worldwide and our leadership position in global marine services,” said Andy Fraser, director of worldwide customer service for Sperry Marine.

Sperry Marine is a leading supplier of VDRs for new and existing ships, and offers turnkey solutions for VDR compliance, including applications engineering, custom design and engineering, interfacing, installation, commissioning, training, service and annual performance testing. Sperry Marine’s VoyageMaster VDR is a fully compliant system, which has been approved by numerous national authorities and classification societies.

Sperry Marine, with worldwide headquarters in Charlottesville, Va., and a major center of excellence for software engineering in New Malden, Surrey, United Kingdom, is part of Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems sector. The business unit 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.

Headquartered in Baltimore, Md., Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of defense and commercial electronic systems including airborne radar, navigation systems, electronic countermeasures, precision weapons, airspace management systems, communications systems, space systems, marine and naval systems, government systems and logistics services.