My Career as an Electronics Engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation

Company

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC)

Division

Aeronautics Systems (AS)

Description

Division of Northrop Grumman that focuses on the design and development, and maintenance and sustainment of various manned and unmanned military aerospace vehicles. In this realm, NGC is a prime contractor to the department of defense, acting as the system integrator of avionics and many other military and COTS technologies to support strike and intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (ISR) activities. NGC platforms include the E-2C and E-2D, E-8C Joint STARS, B-2 Stealth Bomber, B-21 Stealth Bomber, X-47B, MQ-4C Triton, and Global Hawk.

Role

Electronics and Payloads Engineer

Other Names: E&P Engineer, Avionics Engineer, Electronics Engineer

Location

Melbourne, FL

NGC Melbourne is a gigantic, beautiful campus composed of many buildings. The main campus is located on NASA Blvd, situated on Melbourne Orlando International Airport property. The facility has a hangar with access to the airport’s runways. Due to many large scale contracts being awarded to NGC in the past, and some of those programs being executed out of the Melbourne facility, the campus has seen tremendous growth in the forms of employee population and facility size. 

To meet the demand for employee office spaces and parking, the campus has been under considerable construction, adding multiple buildings and parking lots, since around 2016, and continuing beyond the day of writing this article (late 2020). Parking is very spread out, and conveniently located parking spaces can be difficult to find by an early hour in the morning. Although dependent on walking speed, it could easily take over 10 minutes to walk from your car to your desk. Because of this, and the Florida heat, a bus system operates throughout the day to take employees between the different areas of campus (buildings and parking lots). The facility also features a large cafeteria, serving breakfast and lunch, with decent inside and outside dining spaces.

Despite being unrecognizable to the employees who have been working at the Melbourne facility for 10+ years, the campus is beautiful and modern. The many new and exciting programs that are being operated out of the Melbourne campus has attracted lots of young talent from around the country. This growth is not only occurring at NGC Melbourne, but is also very reflective of the growth occurring in the general Brevard County area. Brevard County has seen a migration of engineers to support the growing demands of the aerospace and defense industries. Many other non-engineering industries have followed suit.

Work Environment

Your primarily sitting arrangement will be in cubicle and lab environments. Many of the actual offices and labs are located within secure rooms called “closed areas,” where strictly classified work is performed. Wireless devices are not allowed within the closed areas, and classified work cannot be performed outside of the closed area. Only the level of work specific to that program can be done within the closed area (Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, Restricted, etc.).

Travel

Travel is very much program dependent. Although I didn’t travel much, there were many opportunities to do so. Most travel that I or coworkers took part in, was domestic, and was either to avionics subcontractor facilities, EQ/EMI testing facilities, or various military bases across the United States. However, due to the US military’s global presence, and NGC’s support of foreign military sales, many international travel assignments exist as well.

General Requirements for Position

Engineering Degree in a core area of competency (primarily Electrical, Computer, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Systems).

Secret and above security clearance with ability to obtain program specific clearance for special access programs. All Department of Defense security clearances require US citizenship. If a dual citizen, you may be required to renounce foreign citizenship. Although much less common, some positions may require the passing of a polygraph test.

Roles and Responsibilities

The following is how I’ve described the roles and responsibilities I’ve had at NGC to prospective employers, coworkers, and general inquiry. 

I was a lead E&P (Avionics) engineer supporting the Joint STARS modernization efforts for over three years. To give some background, Joint STARS is an Air Force surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that has been in service since the late ‘80s. I worked as part of a multidisciplinary team consisting of many different departments: engineers, business and program management, finance, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, etc.

The primary role of the E&P engineer, in the support of the Joint STARS modernization (mod) effort, is to be the focal point and subject matter expert of all of the avionics that integrate with the Joint STARS aircraft and the facilities that support the Joint STARS mission. This is not to say other roles and responsibilities outside of working directly with avionics cannot be obtained or passed down. During my time as an E&P engineer at NGC, I also worked on algorithm development (MATLAB and Python) for RADAR tracking, sensor fusion, data analysis, and machine learning applications.

As a lead avionics engineer supporting the JSTARS mod mission, I performed the following tasks. Note: I did not have all of these responsibilities on the first day of working for NGC. Instead, I worked up to these responsibilities through promotion and gaining experience over time.

• Interpret, produce, and contribute to many levels of highly technical program documentation
  • Program Statement of Work (PSOW)
  • System Requirements Document (SRD)
  • Basis of Estimate (BOE)
  • Integrated Master Schedule (IMS) 
  • Source Control Drawing (SCD)
  • Prime Item Development Specification (PIDS)
  • Single/Sole Source Justification (SSJ)
  • Seller Statement of Work (SSOW)
  • Bench Test Procedures (BTPs)
  • Test Plans
  • Test Reports
  • Technical Reports, Baseline Memos, White Papers
  • Flight Manuals
  • Upgrade/Downgrade Procedures
  • Operational Instructions 
  • White Papers and Analyses
  • Flight Manuals
• Attend Technical Interchange Meetings, SEMTs, and other customer related meetings
  • Report status to customers
  • Opportunity to interfa
• Lead and participate in Technical Review Board (TRB) meetings
• Perform budgetary estimates/analyses for the capture of future modernization programs for JSTARS
  • Usually performed to assist business management in capturing new programs 
  • Analyze high level requirements from customer to estimate period of performance and dollar amount for future funding
• Develop BOEs
  • Usually developed in anticipation of contract award
  • Budgetary estimate as foundation for creation
  • Gets approved at the highest levels of engineering and program management
• Perform detailed planning
  • Breakdown all major BOE tasks into individual subtasks
  • Defines completeness criteria and how many hours allocated to each subtask
  • Schedule work against IMS over period of performance (PoP)
• Develop SSOWs, SCDs, and PIDS
  • If hardware/software systems already exist, work closely with vendors and subcontractors of military grade avionics and COTS equipment to review their specifications to ensure functionality can be integrated into aircraft or lab system
  • If hardware/software systems do not exist, also work closely to develop and flow down requirements to vendors and subcontractors of military grade avionics and COTS equipment for the design of new systems
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: The E&P engineer acts as the primary interface between the subcontractor, prime contractor, and customer
• Perform cost account management (CAM) duties throughout program PoP
  • Distribute charge numbers to various engineers to complete scheduled activities
  • Report status against activities
• Work closely with subcontractors and supply chain management to procure equipment
• Develop and execute BTPs on procured equipment
• Develop and execute test plans and procedures for conducting Environmental Qualification (EQ) and Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Testing
  • All equipment installed on an aircraft must usually go through some level of EQ/EMI testing for flight worthiness
• Participate in lab and aircraft integration and testing activities
  • Installation and Checkout (IACO)
• Perform reachback support
  • Hours allocated to assist customer with any support activities once all core activities are completed

As previously mentioned, travel is very much program specific. Travel activities would most likely include going to program specific meetings at various military bases, and performing installations and checkouts in the aircraft and different labs (SILs). One of the great parts about JSTARS is the opportunity to take part in flight testing activities, which includes the potential to actually fly on the aircraft itself. This opportunity most likely only exists at the surveillance and reconnaissance level for larger airframes, and most likely does not exist at the strike level, or on smaller airframes. 

All in all, working on Joint STARS was an incredible experience. The team that oversees the modernization of JSTARS is a well oiled machine. In this role, you will have the opportunity to have a direct impact on the jet, and even work with people who have flown and operated this aircraft as Air Force personnel. Working with these individuals is a privilege, as they are of the highest integrity and professionalism, and are true experts in the field.