Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected to provide a new-generation integrated navigation and bridge system (INBS) for the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF) project. The initial INBS design-phase contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman’s Sperry Marine business unit by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, the industrial alliance that, in the manufacture phase of the project, will include the planned Joint Venture between VT Group and BAES (including BAES Marine and BAES Integrated System Technologies), Babcock Support Services Ltd, Thales Naval and MOD.

The INBS will be based on Sperry Marine’s innovative VisionMaster FT technology and will bring together all of the ships’ navigation sensors and systems into a modern, efficient, ergonomic bridge to meet operational requirements. The VisionMaster FT suite utilises an advanced network architecture that will provide the ship’s watch team with a seamless integration of radar and chart functionality for optimized situational awareness and mission performance.

Sperry Marine in the UK has had a long and successful relationship with the Royal Navy, supplying and supporting navigation radars, gyrocompasses and other navigation equipment. Sperry Marine is also currently supplying the platform management systems for the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers and has provided ships’ inertial navigation systems for a variety of other surface ships and submarines.

The aircraft carriers will be the largest capital ships ever constructed in the UK or operated by the Royal Navy and the most capable carrier force outside the USA. The scheduled in-service dates for the carriers are 2014 and 2016.