Northrop Grumman is to supply inertial navigation systems (INS) for the US Navy’s joint precision approach and landing systems (JPALS) shipboard reference programme.

As a subcontractor to Raytheon, Northrop will supply 18 LN-270 INS units for the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the JPALS increment 1A shipboard reference system.

The Raytheon-developed JPALS is an all-weather, all-mission, all-user landing system that works with GPS to provide accurate, reliable, landing guidance for fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. It also supports fixed-base, tactical and shipboard applications.

Each JPALS-equipped ship will use three Northrop fibre-optic gyro-based LN-270 INS units to measure the ship’s motion.

In addition, the LN-270 INS being manufactured is a highly reliable navigation system, which requires significantly lower maintenance costs during its lifetime.

Delivery of the first LN-270 unit is scheduled for early 2011.