Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has supplied the advanced Integrated Bridge System and Voyage Management System electronic charting software for the first U.S. Navy ship authorized to navigate using Digital Nautical Charts (DNC) supplied by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

The Aegis guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George (CG 71) is equipped with the first Electronic Chart Display and Information System – Navy (ECDIS-N) approved for use by Navy surface ships. ECDIS-N, developed by Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit, was authorized for use in May 2005 after an extensive certification process to ensure it met the Navy’s requirements for safe navigation.

Sperry Marine’s Integrated Bridge System was installed in USS Cape St. George earlier this year as part of a fleet-wide program to upgrade the Navy’s surface ships and submarines with ECDIS-N systems. The ECDIS-N system interfaces with the ship’s GPS receivers and other navigation sensors to give the ship’s watchstanders a computerized real-time view of the ship’s position and movement on an electronic-chart display. It also provides an automated capability for route planning and DNC correction to include the latest “Notice to Mariners” information.

“We congratulate the captain and crew of USS Cape St. George for being the first to achieve this historic milestone in marine navigation,” said John DeMaso, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Naval and Marine Systems Division, which includes Sperry Marine. “We are proud to have played a role in bringing this exciting new technology to the fleet.”

“ECDIS-N provides many time- and energy-saving benefits to the crew,” said Lt. j.g. Tim Shanley, navigator of USS Cape St. George. “The paperless system eliminates many of the labor-intensive aspects of maintaining hundreds of charts. It eliminates the need to make constant pen-and-ink updates on the paper charts; instead, the corrections are downloaded directly into the computer, ensuring that we are always using the most up-to-date chart information.”

The Voyage Management System provides an extra margin of safety when operating in restricted waters. “We don’t have to wait to plot visual compass bearings or radar ranges by hand on the paper chart, since the computer updates our position relative to navigation aids and potential hazards on the screen instantly,” said Shanley.

“Sperry Marine’s Voyage Management System is the only system that has been certified to meet the ECDIS-N standard for paperless navigation,” said DeMaso. “We have installed similar equipment on over 150 U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines, and they will also go through the same certification process as Cape St. George.”

DeMaso added that Sperry Marine has supplied similar technology for hundreds of commercial ships, such as tankers and container carriers worldwide. The commercial Voyage Management System has been type approved by national maritime authorities and classification societies to meet the International Maritime Organization ECDIS specifications.

Sperry Marine, with worldwide headquarters in Charlottesville, Va., and major engineering and support offices in New Malden, United Kingdom, and Hamburg, Germany, is part of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector. Sperry Marine 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 sensors, marine and naval systems, government systems and logistics services.