Oceanic and Naval Systems (O&NS) is a division of Northrop Grumman, a multinational defense electronics, systems integration, and information technology company. O&NS operates under the Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector, which is a world leader in design, development, and manufacturing of electronic sensors and systems for underwater, surface and space environments.
O&NS designs, develops, builds, tests, and supports sophisticated naval systems. It produces submarine, surface ship, airborne, and remotely-operated systems for the U.S. Navy and other domestic and international customers. Its products include manned submersible systems, unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), mine hunting and reconnaissance systems, various acoustic and electro-optical sensor systems, acoustic intercept systems, ASW (anti-submarine warfare) and AAW (anti-air warfare) sensors and systems, advanced platforms, and ASW trainers.
"O&NS designs, develops, builds, tests, and supports sophisticated naval systems"
About one-third of O&NS employees are engineers with a strong, supportive staff of technicians. These individuals play a vital role for O&NS. “Engineers are both our life-line and our future,” says Faith Ball, Director of Engineering Oceanic and Naval Systems. “In a business that relies on state-of-the-art technology, engineers provide the technical leadership that drives our business and contributes to our existence and overall success.”
O&NS hires engineers in naval architecture and marine engineering, systems engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and transducer engineering. A brief description of these disciplines follows:
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering – This discipline includes overall vehicle design and integration, hydrodynamic analysis and tow tank testing, ship's structures analysis and design, and design of main propulsion systems and thrusters.
Systems Engineering - System engineering performs mission analysis and establishes the system requirements and goals to achieve success on missions. Engineers in this field develop underwater systems including system definition, algorithm development, verification, and test planning.
"About one-third of O&NS employees are engineers with a strong, supportive staff of technicians"
Electrical Engineering – This discipline focuses on the design and development of electrical products that are adaptable to all environments. Responsibilities encompass energy systems, underwater communications and telemetry electronics sensors, signal conditioning, signal amplification, digital processing, and high-resolution sonar electronics.
Mechanical Engineering – This field encompasses the development of deep submergence vehicles, submarines, surface ships, and complex ocean-bottom work systems, including mechanical component design and control, fluid systems, modeling, and systems architecture.
Software Engineering – This discipline focuses on the design, development, testing, and support of software and firmware. Typical functionality includes signal processing, data processing and acquisition, and vehicle navigation and control.
Transducer Design Engineering – Engineers in this field research, develop, design, and test sensors and transducers for acoustic systems. The sensors developed cover a broad spectrum of types and frequencies enabling greater visibility into the underwater environment.
O&NS looks for engineering employees with Bachelor's degrees in engineering, mathematics, or a computer or physical science discipline. But it looks for more than just technical skills; it wants a well-rounded individual. “Customer interaction is an important part of an engineer’s job, so communications skills are important,” Ball emphasizes. “We look for individuals with well-developed oral, written, and presentations skills, too.”
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