The partnership between Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and the Korean defense industry achieved another milestone in April with the completion of the first two component orders on the Republic of Korea Global Hawk Program.

This spring, Korean Jig and Fixture (KJF) delivered build-to-print aerospace grade precision machine parts for the first Republic of Korea Global Hawk. This comes in addition to the wire harness, which delivers electrical signals throughout the aircraft, which Firstec Company, Ltd. delivered earlier in the year.

Northrop Grumman signed a memoranda of understanding with Firstec and KJF in 2013 to support the Global Hawk. Manufacturing of the first Republic of Korea Global Hawk aircraft is currently underway at Northrop Grumman's Moss Point, Mississippi, facility. Final aircraft production will take place in Palmdale, California. Korea is a key U.S. partner in ensuring peace and stability in the East Asia region. The Northrop Grumman Global Hawk, which can fly for more than 30 hours at altitudes up to 60,000 feet, is ideally suited to monitor and deter regional threats in support of Korea's defense forces.

Global Hawk. Photo courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

The Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system has logged more than 180,000 flight hours, 75 percent of which were combat/operational missions. Korea purchased four Global Hawks under a foreign military sales procurement with the U.S. government awarded in December 2014. Global Hawk supports military missions, anti-terrorism, anti-piracy, scientific and environmental work, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts anywhere in the world. The system was used following natural disasters in Haiti, Japan and the Republic of the Philippines to make damage assessments and allow first responders to pinpoint where people needed help the most.