Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE: NOC) Sperry Marine business unit today announced that it has received recent orders for 10 VoyageMaster Voyage Data Recorders (VDR). Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

The VoyageMaster system meets the International Maritime Organization (IMO) carriage requirements for VDRs and is fully type approved. The VDR carriage requirements apply to all new ships over 3,000 gross tons, and all existing roll-on, rolloff passenger ships. The compliance deadline is July 1, 2002.

Grimaldi Group's cruise ferry operator, Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), has ordered six VoyageMaster VDR systems for installation on six existing cruise roll-on, roll-off ferries. These systems are in addition to Sperry Marine VDRs already on order for Grimaldi's two newbuildings (#1220 and #1221) at Nuovi Cantieri Apuania. The orders were secured by Sperry Marine's Italian sales and service representative, Compagnia Generale Telemar S.p.A.

Additionally, BP Shipping has ordered four VoyageMaster VDRs for new tankers under construction at Tsuneishi Shipbuilding in Japan. The ships (British Laurel, British Hawthorn, British Willow and British Oak), which are also being fitted with Sperry Marine electronic chart systems, are scheduled for completion in 2002/2003.

The VDR system is similar to an aircraft "black box," providing a permanent record of data from ship's sensors and voice recordings on the bridge for recovery and analysis following an incident at sea.

Sperry Marine is a leading supplier of Voyage Data Recorders for the marine industry, with more than 100 VDR systems either installed or on order worldwide. The Sperry Marine team provides a complete turnkey solution to satisfy the international carriage requirements for VDRs, including system layout, application engineering, integration, installation, commissioning, crew training and annual recertification.

Sperry Marine, with worldwide headquarters in Charlottesville, Va., is part of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector. The business unit provides smart navigation and ship control solutions for the international marine industry under the Sperry Marine, Decca and C. Plath brand names, 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 electronics and systems including airborne radar systems, navigation systems, electronic warfare systems, precision weapons, air traffic control systems, air defense systems, communications systems, space systems, marine systems, oceanic and naval systems, logistics systems, and automation and information systems.