We have a history rich in technological firsts and noteworthy achievements, including:

2007 - Directed Energy Systems dedicates a new facility to develop and produce high-energy lasers.  The facility, located at Space Park in Redondo Beach, has several laser labs, class-1000 clean rooms and other specialized areas for solid-state laser technology development.

2006 - Northrop Grumman's Strategic Illuminator Laser (SILL) demonstrates multi-kilowatt-class average laser output power, operating at 5 kHz, with outstanding beam quality for a run time of five minutes.

2005 - Northrop Grumman's Joint High Power Solid State Laser (JHPSSL) demonstrator blasts one of the most powerful (more than 27kW), continuously operating (350 seconds), solid-state laser beams ever produced by an electric laser - believed to be the brightest beam ever produced by this technology.

2005 - Northrop Grumman wins NASA's prestigious George M. Low Award, the agency's premier award for demonstrated excellence and outstanding technical and managerial achievements in quality and performance.

2005 - The Department of Defense (DoD) presents Northrop Grumman with two Nunn-Perry Awards in recognition ofSpace Technology's committment to helping small companies establish themselves in the federal marketplace.

2005 - NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, built by Northrop Grumman Space Technology, finds evidence that a swarm of 10,000 or more black holes may be orbiting the Milky Way's super massive black hole near the galactic center.

2004 - Northrop Grumman demonstrates laser built for Airborne Laser System.  "First Light" test marks the first time a directed energy system for use in airborne environment demonstrated.

2004 - NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Northrop Grumman awarded the National Space Club's 2004 Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award for TDRS, a system that enhanced earth-to-space communications for more than 20 years.

2004 - Awarded NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Contractor Excellence Award.

2004 - Achieved the highest possible rating for commercial and defense industry practices for software, attaining a CMMI(r) Level 5 maturity rating.

2004 - High-Energy Laser destroys in-flight large-caliber rockets and multiple morter rounds in history-making tests.

2004 - Aura Earth Observing System  launched and successfully provides the most comprehensive space-based measurements of atmospheric gases ever taken.

2003 - Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, MIT and Northrop Grumman awarded Marshall Space Flight Center's Public Service Group Achievement Award for Chandra X-Ray Observatory Mission Planning and Review Team.

2003 - Northrop Grumman inducted into Space Technology Hall of Fame's "Class of 2003" for the development of a new class of integrated circuits which enabled a new generation of cell phones and other wireless products.

2003 - NASA/Northrop Grumman team awarded the National Space Club's Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award.

2003 - Awarded the NASA Public Service Group Achievement Award for work on the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)

2002 - Northrop Grumman-built Aqua wins Popular Science magazine's award for "Best of What's New" in Aviation and Space.

2002 - First high-energy laser to shoot down an artillery projectile in flight.

2001 - Northrop Grumman-built Hyperion is NASA's first hyperspectral imager to become operational on-orbit.

2001 - NASA/Northrop Grumman team wins National Space Club Award for Chandra X-ray Observatory

2000 - The Tactical High Energy Laser is the first system to repeatedly detect, track and destroy salvos of rockets fired in succession.

1999 - The Northrop Grumman-built Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals a wealth of new discoveries, including some of the most distant objects ever seen in the universe.

1999 - Developed the world's fastest digital integrated circuit: a 69 GHz frequency divider fabricated using indium phosphide

1996 - First armed short-range rocket shot down in flight by a Northrop Grumman laser

1995 - Northrop Grumman-built Pioneer 6 records 30 years in space as world's oldest operating spacecraft.

1994 - First launch of Milstar, next generation of military communications satellites, for which a Northrop Grumman-led team provided the low-data-rate communications payload

1991 - Northrop Grumman built Compton Gamma Ray Observatory  launched from Space Shuttle to study high-energy celestial phenomena such as solar flares, gamma-ray bursts and pulsars

1989 - Produced VHSIC SuperChip, the world's first self-repairing electronic device

1989 - Designed millimeter/microwave monolithic integrated circuit chip

1983 - Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, is first manmade object to leave the solar system.

1973 - The first high-energy laser

1971 - Designed DSCS II, a global military communications network

1969 - Intelsat III, the first global commercial communication satellite system

1965 - Supplied lunar module descent engines for Apollo moon-landing missions

1958 - Pioneer 1 became the first spacecraft built by an industrial contractor