Why Digital Transformation Matters

Northrop Grumman is harnessing integrated digital technologies to rapidly conceptualize, design, build, and sustain value-driven solutions.

Northrop Grumman’s advanced system integration and validation of our digital models allows us to reduce the need for final platform integration, decreasing time to field and improving affordability.

What is a Digital Twin?

A digital twin is a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronized at a specified frequency and fidelity.

• Digital twin systems transform business by accelerating holistic understanding, optimal decision-making, and effective action.
• Digital twins use real-time and historical data to represent the past and present and simulate predicted futures.
• Digital twins are motivated by outcomes, tailored to use cases, powered by integration, built on data, guided by domain knowledge, and implemented in information technology/operational technology systems.

The foundational elements of the definition are captured in the first sentence: the virtual representation, the real-world entities and processes it represents, and the mechanism by which the virtual and real-world entities are synchronized.

By using virtual simulation and real-time data a digital twin rapidly evaluates system performance in ever-changing environments.

What is a Digital Thread?

A digital thread is an extensible, configurable, multi-directional integration of authoritative technical data, software, and information throughout a system’s life cycle, enabling the capture of decision making information and knowledge. With our customers and end user in mind, the digital thread provides the framework for continuous feedback and incremental opportunities to build, refine and verify in a Lean-Agile framework.

DevSecOps or Dev*Ops Best Practices

Dev*Ops is more than a process and tools. Dev*Ops drives change through continuous delivery of value, improved quality of systems, and increased affordability.

• Culture – Create a set of values that promote collaboration across functional areas to achieve one common goal.
• People – Empower individuals to come together as collaborative, cross-functional, self-organizing teams.
• Tools – Employ tools to promote transparency, collaboration and automation.
• Process – Utilize lean practices to assure sustainable delivery of value and continuous improvement.
• Technology – Automate every phase to ensure quality and rapid delivery of value.

How is Artificial Intelligence Used in Aerospace?

The result of using machine learning and artificial intelligence across our development process is increased reliability, testing environments that uncover new insights with greater speed and the ability to improve outcomes over time.

In the field, artificial intelligence is critical for giving warfighters the ability to make informed decisions with the speed of relevance. Our proven algorithm development and implementation has developed leading-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions that can process massive amounts of data securely and quickly, delivering actionable intelligence directly into the hands of those who need it most, wherever they are.

As one of the Department of Defense’s most trusted partners, Northrop Grumman is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to bring forward new and emerging capabilities needed to succeed in the age of data-driven warfare.

Advanced Manufacturing and Additive Manufacturing

Northrop Grumman’s innovative approach to advanced manufacturing seamlessly integrates digital technologies at the speed of relevancy. Our software makes our hardware better because we’re able to upgrade and accelerate new capabilities, which drives the efficiency, optimization and first-time quality our customers require.  

Leveraging the digital environment in design enables rapid testing and adjustment of solutions before we physically manufacture items and place them on the air vehicle, greatly reducing risk. To speed up our design and build process, we are:

• Leveraging modeling and simulation, using high-fidelity, validated models to test and ultimately trust complex algorithms with thousands of varying inputs to ensure the desired effect. 
• Generating digital models of new aircraft and flowing them into computational electromagnetic tools so we can see how new capabilities behave when installed on a platform.
• Leveraging vehicle design tools, with the use of reality goggles, which can assist in updating the design based on maintainability.
• Developing software, which can be used for vulnerability testing, giving us the ability to test before it’s compiled to ensure there’s a trusted code.

All of these advanced manufacturing approaches accelerate the design process, and we are working with our customers to leverage those same tools to accelerate the requirements for verification and validation to field programs more quickly than ever before.

Lean-Agile

Agile Transformation

At Northrop Grumman, we understand the importance of the mission and the need to deliver value at the speed of relevance. Lean-Agile and digital engineering are complementary solutions that promote a cohesive collaboration between development, security and operations working towards continuous and rapid integration and delivery. This is achieved through intimate and transparent collaboration across program teams and disciplines.

We understand the need for the entire organization to act with a Lean-Agile mindset, both internally and with customers and suppliers. We value partnership with our customers and suppliers in creating a quick feedback loop which is a proof point of our success in regular delivery of value. We inspect and adapt to the evolving needs of our business, suppliers, and customers.

Our Lean-Agile journey started over ten years ago with software-mission critical programs. We embrace our proven success with our Lean operations, which adheres to innovative thinking, built-in quality, and minimizing process waste with focus on value delivery and relentless improvement. Through our continued commitment to excellence and innovation, we have learned the value of applying Lean-Agile principles and practices to all aspects of our business and operations.  As a result, our employees apply innovative thinking every day to our solutions and to our business and management practices leading to a more positive work experience. We have an exceptional community of Lean-Agile talent and thought leaders who coach, mentor, and model this growth mindset and are dedicated to a sustainable model for continuous improvement.

Together we create a Lean-Agile culture where digital transformation can thrive.