Freedom of the Seas – Royal Caribbean’s newest and biggest passenger cruise ship, which enters regular service this month – has been equipped with an advanced, state-of-the-art suite of navigation and communication electronics by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC).

At 160,000 gross tons and carrying more than 3,600 passengers and 1,400 crew, Freedom of the Seas is one of the largest cruise ships in the world. The ship was constructed at Aker Finyards in Turku, Finland, where two additional Freedom-class ships are also being built.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has received orders from SRH Marine Electronics SA of Piraeus, Greece, to supply more than 60 simplified voyage data recorders (S-VDRs) for Greek shipowners to meet International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations requiring S-VDRs on existing merchant ships by July 1, 2007.

Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit will supply the S-VDR systems and will assist SRH Marine to oversee installation, integration, commissioning and annual performance testing of the systems through its worldwide service network.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) today announced that its Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) training center has been granted a five-year recertification from the U.S. Coast Guard.

The 40-hour ECDIS course is offered at Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine facility in Charlottesville, Va., and includes classroom instruction, individual hands-on training on ECDIS simulator workstations and team training on Sperry Marine’s complete ship-bridge simulator.

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s (NYSE:NOC) Sperry Marine business unit is celebrating 50 years of manufacturing and engineering at its headquarters in Charlottesville, Va. The company held a special ceremony and open house this week to commemorate the event.

Speakers and distinguished guests at the 50th Anniversary Celebration included U.S. Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), Delegates Robert Bell (R-Charlottesville) and David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), Rear Adm. Samuel J. Locklear, III, U.S. Navy, and Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems sector president Jim Pitts.