Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit has received type approval from the U.S. Coast Guard for the VoyageMaster Voyage Data Recorder (VDR).

The Coast Guard type approval certifies that the VoyageMaster system meets or exceeds all requirements for shipboard VDR equipment to meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO) carriage requirements. The system has also been type approved by Det Norske Veritas in Norway, QinetiQ in the United Kingdom, BSH in Germany and numerous other national authorities.

The VoyageMaster VDR, similar to an aircraft "black box," records vital information concerning the ship's position, movement, physical status and command and control for the period leading up to and following an incident. The data, including voice recordings from bridge microphones and VHF radio, is stored in a hardened memory capsule for recovery and analysis by safety investigators following an incident at sea.

Beyond its "black box" function, the VoyageMaster VDR can serve as an important management tool, supplying the ship's master and shoreside offices with critical voyage data for automated reports/logs, voyage performance, trend analysis and crew training. Earlier this year, Sperry Marine unveiled a new series of iFleet™ solutions for ship-to-shore transfer of VDR data for improved vessel management.

Sperry Marine provides turnkey solutions for VDR compliance, including applications engineering, custom design and engineering, interfacing, installation, commissioning, training, service and annual performance testing.

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.