In the most recent and ambitious of Northrop Grumman's experimental, net-centric-warfare "Q-tests," researchers linked a collection of ground forces, aircraft and ship-based sensors to track down, identify and bomb a team of "terrorists" smuggling SA-7 shoulder-fired missiles into the U.S. through the Chesapeake Bay. By juggling the availability of flying assets and using surrogates when necessary, company researchers assembled the following force: an E-8 Joint Stars long-range ground-surveillance aircraft (providing previously gathered data from Florida), an E-2C (X-Hawk experimental modification) command-and-control aircraft, an F/A-18 (as a surrogate Joint Strike Fighter) and an EA-6B ICAP II signals and communications intelligence aircraft. There were also three virtual elements—an aircraft carrier (Virginia Advanced Shipbuilding Carrier Integration Center), Northern Command headquarters in New York (through the company's cyberwarf are integration network) and an electronic warfare command-and-control center in Maryland—as well as the E-2C System Test and Evaluation Laboratory at NAS Patuxent River, Md.
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