A new inspection system that can see through paint is delivering both cost savings and environmental benefits. In fact, the Department of Defense's Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) has hailed the technology, which was developed by Northrop Grumman Corporation, as the Project of the Year for pollution prevention.

Created by the company's Integrated Systems sector, the inspection system employs infrared imaging technology to spot corrosion underneath the painted surface of aircraft structures. As a result, users no longer have to undertake the expensive and environmentally harmful process of stripping paint from aircraft parts before examining them for corrosion or cracking.

According to SERDP, which is the Department of Defense's (DoD) corporate environmental research and development program, the non-destructive system will save the DoD and commercial aircraft operators approximately $200 million a year in aircraft maintenance and associated pollution control costs.

"The system can see through paint, which reduces down time and life-cycle costs while improving aircraft readiness for the warfighter. The elimination of the paint removal process is also a positive step for protecting the environment," says Robert Klein, vice president of Engineering, Logistics and Technology for Integrated Systems' Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems business area, New York. "Having our system recognized by the Department of Defense and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the best among two dozen pollution-prevention projects is a great honor for us."

The DoD has partnered with the EPA and the Department of Energy in planning and executing SERDP, in which a number of other federal and non-federal organizations also participate.

Previously, detecting corrosion, cracks, pitting and other damage masked by paint or other organic coatings necessitated the complete stripping of paint off aircraft structures. In contrast, users no longer need to strip paint under this new approach; they simply inspect images of a part's surface underneath the paint. These images, which are generated by the new patent-pending infrared inspection system, are precise enough to reveal miniscule cracks. With this technology, inspectors can make maintenance decisions while forgoing the expensive paint-stripping process.

To verify the effectiveness of the technology, Integrated Systems and the U.S. Air Force are commencing a three-year demonstration/validation study funded by SERDP. To confirm the system's accuracy in real-world conditions, the Air Force will utilize the system to examine aircraft coming in for scheduled repainting.

Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is an aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise. As one of Northrop Grumman Corporation's seven sectors, it designs, develops, produces and supports network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems for U.S. government, civil and international customers.

Source:

Northrop Grumman Earns Pollution Prevention Award for See-Through-Paint Technology
Northrop Grumman News Release, January 22, 2004
www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.mhtml?d=51266