Fairchild Controls Corporation (Fairchild Controls) is selected by Northrop Grumman Corporation (Northrop Grumman) to develop an airborne cooling system for Northrop Grumman's ALQ-122 electronics suite installed on U.S. Air Force B-52 strategic bombers. The project's first phase includes delivery of three prototype cooling units, called chillers, and the associated controls to Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems Division.
Successful completion of a flight and ground test program is likely to be followed by orders for production hardware, which will equip B-52s being outfitted with Northrop Grumman’s modernized electronic warfare self-protection systems.
The company’ chiller will be used to cool the B-52’s ALQ-122 electronics suite, utilizing the company’s proven Vapor Cycle System (VCS) technology. This new contract builds on Fairchild Controls’ established relationship with Northrop Grumman, which began with the supply of environmental control systems for aircraft pod-mounted systems.
We are very proud to support Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Air Force on the legendary B-52, an airplane with a unique legacy in our nation’s national security, said Fairchild Controls president Scott Selle. This important award expands the application of our environmental controls into a new area-military aircraft supplemental electronics cooling-augmenting the VCS cooling applications we already have on commercial aircraft, military pods, helicopters and amphibious vehicles.