Members and friends

Friday morning at LIMBA, on the 38th anniversary of the first moon
landing, we had
Duke Dufresne, the current chief of Northrop Grumman
Corporation’s Integrated
Systems Eastern Region (Ticker NOC), the current incarnation of the
Lunar Module
builder, give us an update on what is going on with the storied
aerospace
corporation, long a mainstay of the Long Island economy.
Duke is head of the eastern region of NGC Integrated Systems, which is
a 2
Billion dollar division of the company, working with the Navy and Air
Force to
connect the warfighter on the ground, sea, and air, with the
information they
need to execute their missions.  Today, there are
approximately 4,600 employees
in the Eastern Division of which 2000 are on Long Island.  A
recent highlight
was the win of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye pilot production contract,
totaling 408
Million dollars to build 3 new aircraft.  Duke expects the
Navy to buy 75
aircraft in the full production program, and the Bethpage location will
have a
strong role in the engineering functions, with the airframes being
built in St.
Augustine in Florida.  The team is busy pursuing opportunities
on the Navy’s
BAMS project and the AF’s Tanker replacement program, which
are both due to be
awarded later this year.
Duke discussed some of the challenges that doing business on Long Island
presents, such as the cost of housing, and the recruiting problems that
they
present.  He also detailed some of the programs that Northrop
has in place to
address these issues, such as a grant program for employees that are
first time
home buyers.  One of the great programs that they run is an
outreach program to
get school kids interested in careers in engineering, that not only
goes into
high schools, but starts in the middle schools, catching their interest
early,
and hopefully recruiting more local talent that will stay on Long
Island.   An
avid boater, the southern California transplant was effusive in his
praise for
his new home,  a reminder that some of us natives take what we
have here for
granted because we grew up with it. 
The aerospace community was well represented at our meeting, with many
partners
of Northrop Grumman on hand to educate us on the extensive programs
that affect
subcontractors during the Q and A session.  It was again, a
very well spent
morning at LIMBA with a chance to meet and greet Duke Dufresne, one of
the region’s most
influential people, and NGC’s partners. Included in the mix was;

• Joseph Battaglia — President, Telephonics
• Ed Palacio — Vice President, EDO 
• John Capacchione — CAPY Machine 
• Peter Rettaliata — President, Air Industries 
• Kenneth Nevor — NDIA (National Defense Industrial
  Association) Conference

also in attendance were Northrop Grumman associates:

• Diane Dufresne
• Patricia McMahon  
• Dianne Baumert-Moyik 
• Stacy Simpson 

 and of course  the ever curious and involved LIMBA
membership
 
Officiating for LIMBA, Bill Miller, Pres
Presiding over meeting Dick Dunne, LIMBA Board Member
Report Written by;Craig Plunkett, CEDX Corporation
 
Thanks to all. The meeting was a big success