Aurora manufactures the aft fuselage, forward nacelle, mid nacelle, aft nacelle and V-tail assemblies of the MQ-4C BAMS UAS aircraft at its composites manufacturing facility in Bridgeport, West Virginia. These structures are then shipped to Northrop Grumman's manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California, for final assembly.
The MQ-4C BAMS UAS is the Navy version of the RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft used by the US Air Force to execute surveillance and reconnaissance tasks.
The BAMS aircraft is expected to make its first flight in 2012.
Aurora, a builder of robotic aircraft and other advanced aerospace vehicles, has been a member of Northrop Grumman's Q-4 Enterprise team since 1995. Aurora's Global Hawk work includes all of the aircraft's composite components except the wing and radomes.
