Major Birds in the Air

Northrop Grumman to Fly over Georgia

News broke on January 7 that Georgian government signed a contract with a major US company Northrop Grumman Corp. (NGC), Los Angeles, to develop aerial surveillance systems for monitoring of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) export pipeline and adjacent areas.

Northrop Grumman is one of the few major companies to have entered Georgia. The company was named “Company of the Year” by the Forbes Magazine. Money Magazine also mentioned the company as “one of the best stocks of 2003.”

Even more importantly, NGC is known for its high-tech military and dual-use systems. Grumman’s Global Hawk is an unmanned aerial reconnaissance system was built to replace older U-2 spy-planes, well known to the soviet citizens from the cold war propaganda. Global Hawk is designed to help the army receive real-time surveillance info and, by some reports, can also perform surgical strikes on selected targets. NGC also produces B-2 “Spirit” stealth bomber.

Airborne radar systems, providing for extended command-and-control capabilities as well as air surveillance and defense are one of the best known products of the company. NGC worked to upgrade AWACS systems and developed its own Joint STARS – Surveillance Target Attack Radar System.

Oil and Gas Journal reports quoting Giorgi Chanturia of Georgian International Oil Corporation, that NGC would supply Georgia with one of its radar systems. Unmanned Global Hawk 4,5 million USD price tag and 7,300 kilometer range can be the best for the job over Georgia. However, lower-tech AWACS or JSTARS relying on Boeing aircraft as carriers can also more conventional mainframe on which such system would be built, military observers told Civil Georgia.

Georgian government also receives support of USD 11 million to equip 400-man strong special military unit to protect the BTC pipeline. This would add to the 1500 men trained by the US troops under the Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP).Grumman systems would, likely provide vital surveillance information to the Command & Control centers of the Georgian military.

Georgia currently lacks the air defense capabilities, which resulted in numerous violations of the airspace by unidentified aircraft during the past years.While the previous aerial threats were most likely connected with Russia, recently the fears have grown both in Georgia and abroad on possible attacks by the international terrorist groups. The Heritage Foundation has reported recently of the threat by Ayman Al Zawahiri, henchmen of Osama Bin-Laden, to target the US interests worldwide, including the Caspian export pipelines.