September 3, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Northrop Grumman Corp.’s (NYSE: NOC) Hunter Unmanned Aircraft System, in use with the U.S. Army since 1996, has successfully completed testing of the new GPS-guided Viper Strike  weapons system at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. GPS VS will soon deploy to theater on board Hunter in support of contingency operations.

GPS VS aides the weapons guidance by providing proximity based on coordinates while maintaining pinpoint accuracy with laser guidance. While previous VS systems required the Hunter to be directly overhead, GPS VS offers the advantage of nearly six miles of stand-off range. GPS VS can also hone in on both moving and stationary targets.

The MQ-5B Hunter, which is currently deployed in contingency operations, provides warfighters with state-of-the-art reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition, communications relay, signal intelligence, and weapons delivery. Hunter recently surpassed 80,000 flight hours, 53,000 of which are combat-related.

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