Northrop Grumman Installs Integrated Bridge System on New Tanker

Sperry Marine Systems, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corporation, has just completed fitting an integrated bridge system on a new shuttle tanker in Spain for Norwegian shipowner Navion ASA.

The 96,900-dwt Navion Odin, hull number 84, was built at the IZAR Construcciones Navales SA shipyard in Puerto Real. The bridge equipment includes six separate operator consoles, four of them with flat-screen LCD displays. The system uses Sperry Marine's proprietary Voyage Management System software and Electronic Chart Display and Information System with radar overlay, providing an integrated picture of the ship's position, movement and status for the watch officer.

Other equipment includes two interswitched BridgeMaster E 340 automatic radar plotting aids (ARPA) and a separate proximity radar scanner aft connected to the interswitch via fibre optic cables due to the distance from the bridge. The contract also includes applications engineering, installation, commissioning, spares, technical support and crew training. Sperry Marine (formerly Litton Marine Systems), with worldwide headquarters in Charlottesville, Va., is part of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector. They provide smart navigation solutions for the international marine industry under the Sperry Marine, Decca and C. Plath brand names, with customer service and support through offices in 19 countries and authorized service depots in more than 300 locations worldwide.