Manufacturer catalog

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman is a U.S. aerospace and defense contractor whose catalog footprint spans stealth bombers, airborne command-and-control aircraft, mission systems, and medium-caliber chain guns.

25 weapons

Northrop Grumman is the modern U.S. defense contractor formed through the merger of Northrop and Grumman and expanded through a long line of aerospace, electronics, and mission-systems acquisitions. The company's own heritage pages trace that lineage back to Northrop Aircraft Incorporated in 1939 and describe a broader industrial base built from more than 20 legacy companies.

In this catalog, the builder profile groups the systems that Northrop Grumman designs, manufactures, or sustains so the catalog can connect aircraft, airborne command-and-control platforms, mission systems, and weapon components to one industrial source without turning the builder page into a conflict page.

aircraftmission systemsspace systemsmissile defenseadvanced weaponselectronic systems

Notable Systems

B-2 Spirit, Low-observable strategic heavy bomber, Aircraft & UAVs

B-2 Spirit

Low-observable strategic heavy bomber

Northrop Grumman says it built the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and presents the aircraft as a long-running stealth technology benchmark for the U.S. Air Force.

Sources: B-2 Spirit Product
E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, Carrier-based airborne early warning and control aircraft, Aircraft & UAVs

E-2D Advanced Hawkeye

Carrier-based airborne early warning and control aircraft

Northrop Grumman presents the E-2D as its airborne command-and-control and surveillance platform for the U.S. Navy and allied operators.

Sources: E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Product
E-11A airborne communications relay aircraft, Airborne communications relay aircraft, Aircraft & UAVs

E-11A airborne communications relay aircraft

Airborne communications relay aircraft

Northrop Grumman's BACN page ties the E-11A business-jet platform to a high-altitude airborne communications gateway role.

Sources: BACN E-11A Product
F-35C Lightning II, Carrier-based stealth multirole fighter, Aircraft & UAVs

F-35 Lightning II

Carrier-based stealth multirole fighter

Northrop Grumman says it is a principal member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team and builds major airframe components for all three variants.

Sources: F-35 Lightning II Product
M230 30 mm chain gun, 30 mm autocannon, Aircraft & UAVs

M230 30 mm chain gun

30 mm autocannon

Northrop Grumman identifies the M230 as its original medium-caliber chain gun for aviation platforms, including the Apache attack helicopter.

Sources: M230 Chain Guns Product

Manufacturer History

  1. Northrop Aircraft Incorporated is founded

    Northrop Grumman's heritage pages say the company traces back to Northrop Aircraft Incorporated, founded in 1939 in Hawthorne, California.

    Sources: Our Heritage, Northrop Grumman FAQ

  2. Northrop and Grumman are merged

    Northrop Grumman's filing history states that Northrop acquired Grumman in 1994 and the combined company was renamed Northrop Grumman Corporation.

    Sources: 2026 10-K, Our Heritage

  3. Orbital ATK acquisition completes

    Northrop Grumman says it completed the acquisition of Orbital ATK on 6 June 2018 and created Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems as a new sector.

    Sources: Orbital ATK Acquisition, Our Heritage

Predecessors
Northrop Aircraft IncorporatedNorthrop CorporationGrumman Corporation
Website links
HomeWho We AreOur HeritageAircraftMission SolutionsF-35 Lightning IIE-2D Advanced HawkeyeM230 30 mm Chain Gun

Northrop Grumman is a large integrated defense contractor with a long lineage of predecessor companies. This profile uses the current corporate name, records legacy history in the timeline and predecessors fields, and keeps conflict-specific claims on weapon entries.

Manufacturer Sources

  • Northrop HomePublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports Northrop Grumman's current corporate description as an aerospace and defense company spanning space, aeronautics, defense, and cyberspace. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Who We ArePublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the company's current mission statement, employee scale, and broad product and services context. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Our HeritagePublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the 1939 Northrop Aircraft Incorporated origin, the Grumman merger, and the company's multi-company heritage framing. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Northrop Grumman FAQPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the 1939 incorporation date and the list of major companies acquired since 1994. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • 2026 10-KPublisher: Northrop Grumman Investor Relations | Note: Supports the principal executive offices at 2980 Fairview Park Drive in Falls Church, Virginia and the 1994 Grumman merger context. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • AircraftPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports Northrop Grumman's aircraft production and sustainment focus, including stealth, surveillance, and electronic warfare aircraft. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Mission SolutionsPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the company's mission-systems, cyber, sensing, navigation, and electronic-warfare production context. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Manned AircraftPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the company's manned aircraft heritage and its role in stealth bombers, surveillance, and electronic warfare aircraft since the 1930s. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • B-2 Spirit ProductPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the B-2 Spirit as a Northrop Grumman-built stealth bomber and the company's role on the program. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • E-2D Advanced Hawkeye ProductPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye as a Northrop Grumman airborne command-and-control and surveillance platform. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • BACN E-11A ProductPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports Northrop Grumman's BACN-E-11A airborne communications gateway role and the connected E-11A platform context. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • F-35 Lightning II ProductPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports Northrop Grumman's role as a principal member of the F-35 industry team and its production of major airframe components. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • M230 Chain Guns ProductPublisher: Northrop Grumman | Note: Supports the M230 as Northrop Grumman's original medium-caliber chain gun and its aviation-platform production context. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Orbital ATK AcquisitionPublisher: Northrop Grumman Investor Relations | Note: Supports the 6 June 2018 completion of the Orbital ATK acquisition and the resulting Innovation Systems expansion. | Accessed: 2026-06-21
  • Wikimedia Commons Northrop Grumman office imagePublisher: Wikimedia Commons | Note: Supports the builder image provenance; the file page identifies the photo as Northrop Grumman office at 600 S Hicks Rd, Rolling Meadows, Illinois and licenses it under CC0 1.0. | Accessed: 2026-06-21

Produced weapons

Category

Aircraft & UAVs

Crewed aircraft, drones, and loitering munitions.

7/7
M230 30 mm chain gun, 30 mm autocannon, Aircraft & UAVs2001 War in Afghanistan, 2003 Iraq War +3 moreM230 30 mm chain gun30 mm autocannonBuilt in: United StatesThe M230 30 mm chain gun is an externally powered 30x113 mm autocannon built around Apache helicopter fire support, later adapted into M230LF and XM914 ground counter-UAS variants. Northrop Grumman describes the aviation M230 as the original medium-caliber Chain Gun and the M230LF as a lightweight ground and sea-platform weapon; direct sources document Apache M230 fielding in Afghanistan, Iraq, Operation Inherent Resolve, Israeli Apache use in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War, and M230LF-based Slinger systems ordered for Ukraine.
E-11A airborne communications relay aircraft, Airborne communications relay aircraft, Aircraft & UAVs2020 United States-Iran Conflict, 2001 War in AfghanistanE-11A airborne communications relay aircraftAirborne communications relay aircraftBuilt in: Canada / United StatesThe E-11A is a modified Bombardier Global 6000/BD-700 or Global 6500 business jet used by the U.S. Air Force as the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, or BACN. It relays and translates voice, imagery, tactical data links, and IP-based traffic between otherwise incompatible air, ground, maritime, and coalition networks. The type entered combat in Afghanistan in 2008, CENTCOM listed it among Operation Epic Fury assets in 2026, and nine airframes had been delivered by September 2025 even as the Air Force's FY2027 posture statement planned full divestment in FY2028.
F-35C Lightning II, Carrier-based stealth multirole fighter, Aircraft & UAVs2014 Yemen Civil War, 2020 United States-Iran ConflictF-35C Lightning IICarrier-based stealth multirole fighterBuilt in: United StatesThe F-35C Lightning II is the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, built for catapult launches and arrested landings with larger wings, folding wingtips, strengthened landing gear, internal fuel for long-range carrier operations, and a sensor suite intended for strike, air-to-air, reconnaissance, and electronic-warfare missions. U.S. Marine Corps F-35Cs made the variant's first documented combat strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in 2024, and an F-35C was later reported shooting down an Iranian Shahed-139 drone near USS Abraham Lincoln in 2026.
B-2 Spirit, Low-observable strategic heavy bomber, Aircraft & UAVs1999 Kosovo War / Operation Allied Force, 2001 War in Afghanistan +7 moreB-2 SpiritLow-observable strategic heavy bomberBuilt in: United StatesThe B-2 Spirit is a U.S. Air Force low-observable strategic heavy bomber built by Northrop Grumman for long-range conventional and nuclear strike. Its flying-wing design, intercontinental range, and heavy precision payload made it a central JDAM carrier in Kosovo and a specialized option for later defended or deeply buried targets in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Iran strike operations.

Category

Air Defense

Systems that contest aircraft, missiles, helicopters, and drones.

2/2
Fixed Site LIDS (FS-LIDS), Fixed-site counter-UAS system, Air DefenseFixed Site LIDS (FS-LIDS)Fixed-site counter-UAS systemBuilt in: United StatesFixed Site LIDS (FS-LIDS) is the U.S. Army's fixed-site Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Integrated Defeat System, built to protect bases and other static sites from small drones. Official SRC, RTX, Army, and U.S. arms-sale reporting describe it as a layered counter-UAS architecture that combines radar and EO/IR sensors, FAAD C2 command-and-control, electronic-warfare defeat, fixed Coyote launchers, and Coyote Block 2 interceptors.

Category

Armored Vehicles

Troop carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and protected mobility.

1/1
M242 Bushmaster, 25 mm chain gun autocannon, Armored Vehicles1990 Gulf War, 2003 Iraq War +1 moreM242 Bushmaster25 mm chain gun autocannonBuilt in: United StatesThe M242 Bushmaster is a U.S. 25x137 mm chain-driven autocannon used as the main gun on Bradley and LAV armored vehicles and as the gun element in Mk 38 naval weapon systems. Its externally powered dual-feed design lets crews select ammunition types for direct fire against personnel, light armor, vehicles, and small surface threats; Bradley crews have used the weapon in the Gulf War, Iraq War, and Russia-Ukraine War.

Category

Electronic Warfare

Systems built to sense, relay, jam, deceive, or attack electromagnetic networks.

2/2
AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar, Mobile weapon-locating counterfire radar, Electronic Warfare2014 Russia-Ukraine War, 2003 Iraq War +1 moreAN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radarMobile weapon-locating counterfire radarBuilt in: United StatesThe AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder is a U.S. mobile weapon-locating radar built to detect, track, and backplot mortar, artillery, and rocket fire for counter-battery response. Hughes developed the original system, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman supported later Firefinder upgrade paths, and Ukrainian, U.S., and coalition use kept the Q-36 relevant well after newer counterfire radars entered service.
ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System, Tactical jamming pod system, Electronic Warfare2026 Iran WarALQ-99 Tactical Jamming SystemTactical jamming pod systemBuilt in: United StatesThe ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System is a U.S. external-carriage airborne electronic attack pod family used to jam radar and communications targets for suppression of enemy air defenses. NAVAIR says it entered service in 1971, served on the EA-6B Prowler before transitioning to the EA-18G Growler in 2010, and remains in use alongside Next Generation Jammer pods, including documented VAQ-133 carriage during 2026 Iran War strike operations.

Category

Munitions

Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.

7/7
M940 MPT-SD cartridge, 20 mm multi-purpose tracer self-destruct cartridge, MunitionsM940 MPT-SD cartridge20 mm multi-purpose tracer self-destruct cartridgeBuilt in: United StatesThe M940 MPT-SD is a U.S. 20x102 mm multi-purpose tracer self-destruct cartridge for the land-based Phalanx / C-RAM firing chain. Northrop Grumman identifies M940-1 and M940-2 as C-RAM-fired rounds, Army ammunition material describes LPWS/C-RAM employing M940 against incoming rockets, artillery shells, and mortar rounds, and FY2027 budget material lists AC34 M940 w/MK7 Link procurement through Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics option lines.
30 x 173mm suite of ammunition, 30 mm ammunition family, Munitions2014 War Against the Islamic State30 x 173mm suite of ammunition30 mm ammunition familyBuilt in: United StatesNorthrop Grumman's 30x173 mm Bushmaster ammunition family covers high-explosive, practice-tracer, programmable airburst, and armor-piercing round types for Mk44, Mk44 Stretch, XM813, and GAU-23/A cannon applications. The suite is better read as a cartridge family than as one round: this record links the ammunition to shipboard mounts, AC-130 gunship use, and the catalog's individual Mk238, Mk239, Mk266, and Mk310 round pages.
M1147 120 mm advanced multipurpose round, 120 mm high-explosive multipurpose tank cartridge, MunitionsM1147 120 mm advanced multipurpose round120 mm high-explosive multipurpose tank cartridgeBuilt in: United StatesThe M1147 AMP, formally a 120 mm High Explosive Multi-Purpose with Tracer cartridge, is a U.S. multipurpose tank round for Abrams crews. Army, DOT&E, and budget material describe it as an Abrams-employed line-of-sight munition that consolidates several legacy 120 mm cartridge roles into a programmable round with point-detonate, delayed, and airburst settings, while a 2026 contract notice shows production planned for U.S. Army and possible Foreign Military Sales customers.

Category

Support Equipment

Transport, logistics, recovery, command, engineering, and other enabling equipment.

6/6
Mk44 Bushmaster II, 30 mm chain-gun automatic cannon, Support Equipment2001 War in Afghanistan, 2014 Russia-Ukraine WarMk44 Bushmaster II30 mm chain-gun automatic cannonBuilt in: United StatesThe Mk44 Bushmaster II is a Northrop Grumman 30 mm externally powered chain gun used as the gun element in ground vehicles, naval mounts, and aircraft gun installations. Official material ties the base Mk44 to 30 x 173 mm ammunition and Mk310 programmable air-burst rounds, while the Mk44S, XM813, and GAU-23/A branches show how the family was adapted for 40 mm growth, Stryker Dragoon integration, and AC-130-class aircraft use.
LITENING Advanced Targeting Pod (AN/AAQ-28), Electro-optical targeting pod, Support Equipment2011 First Libyan Civil WarLITENING Advanced Targeting Pod (AN/AAQ-28)Electro-optical targeting podBuilt in: Israel / United StatesThe LITENING Advanced Targeting Pod (AN/AAQ-28) is a Rafael-designed, Northrop Grumman-supported electro-optical/infrared targeting pod family for precision targeting, surveillance, reconnaissance, and laser-guided weapon support. Manufacturer material describes a modular multispectral pod integrated across many aircraft types, while RAND's Libya air-war study documents LITENING pods supporting NATO strike and imagery workflows in the 2011 First Libyan Civil War.
Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM), Infrared countermeasure defensive suite, Support Equipment2001 War in Afghanistan, 2003 Iraq WarLarge Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM)Infrared countermeasure defensive suiteBuilt in: United StatesLarge Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM), designated AN/AAQ-24(V), is Northrop Grumman's laser-based directional infrared countermeasure suite for large fixed-wing aircraft and selected rotary-wing platforms. U.S. Navy and test sources describe a platform-tailored system that detects, tracks, and jams infrared missile threats with missile-warning sensors, processors, cockpit controls, and laser transmitter assemblies; DoN LAIRCM was fielded on Marine Corps CH-53E helicopters in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Space-Based Infrared System / SBIRS, Missile-warning satellite constellation, Support Equipment2024 Iran-Israel ExchangeSpace-Based Infrared System / SBIRSMissile-warning satellite constellationBuilt in: United StatesSpace-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) is the U.S. Space Force space-based missile-warning constellation that replaced Defense Support Program coverage with geosynchronous satellites, highly elliptical orbit payloads, and consolidated ground processing. Lockheed Martin led the space and ground system, Northrop Grumman supplied infrared payloads, and official reporting says SBIRS provided early warning during Iran's April 2024 missile and drone attack on Israel.
Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared / Next Gen OPIR, Missile-warning satellite family, Support EquipmentNext Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared / Next Gen OPIRMissile-warning satellite familyBuilt in: United StatesNext Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next Gen OPIR) is the U.S. Space Force missile-warning satellite family intended to succeed SBIRS inside a wider multi-orbit warning and tracking architecture. Lockheed Martin leads the GEO component on an LM 2100 Combat bus, Northrop Grumman leads the Polar component, and 2026 budget reporting shows the Polar leg under congressional review as LEO and MEO warning layers expand.
Transport and Tracking Layer, Proliferated LEO communications and missile-tracking satellite architecture, Support EquipmentTransport and Tracking LayerProliferated LEO communications and missile-tracking satellite architectureBuilt in: United StatesTransport and Tracking Layer covers the Space Development Agency's proliferated low-Earth-orbit satellite architecture for resilient military data transport, tactical links, missile warning, and missile tracking. Publicly documented activity centers on launches, demonstrations, contractor awards, and planned warfighter integration rather than confirmed conflict employment.