Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a contract by EADS Defence & Security, through its Military Air Systems business unit, to deliver 88 inertial measurement units (IMU) for Tranche 3A of the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The IMUs, which provide motion data for the aircraft, will be built by the company's German navigation systems subsidiary, Northrop Grumman LITEF, which also provided IMUs for Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 of the aircraft.

"Northrop Grumman's IMU has consistently demonstrated outstanding performance in flight," said Norbert Sandner, director of marketing and sales for Northrop Grumman LITEF. "The combination of high accuracy, high reliability, and state-of-the-art technology make our airborne flight control sensor system the ideal choice for this very dynamic aircraft environment."

Developed as part of the flight control system of the Eurofighter Tycoon, the IMU system, with its highly accurate inertial sensors and built-in redundancy, is the sole sensor which measures the motion of the aircraft and continuously provides motion data to the flight control computer to drive the control systems and actuators. This closed control loop stabilization system enables the aircraft to perform with extreme agility as well as a high degree of maneuverability, ensuring it can operate to the maximum of its capability and to the limit of its flight envelope. In a secondary function, the IMU provides backup navigation data.

More than 400 Northrop Grumman LITEF IMUs have been delivered and are already in service on the Eurofighter in Germany, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Austria and Saudi Arabia.

Northrop Grumman LITEF is a leading supplier of inertial sensors, inertial reference and inertial navigation systems and computers with products deployed in more than 30 countries in aircraft, naval and ground mobile applications worldwide.