[Satellite Today – 4-25-08] Northrop Grumman‘s aerospace division sales for the first quarter of 2008 increased 4 percent from 2007, the company announced April 25.
    The division reported $2.1 billion in sales for the quarter ending March 31, compared to $2 billion in 2007. Space Technology sales increased 3 percent to $775 million, primarily due to higher volume for classified programs and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. These increases partially were offset by lower volumes in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency, Space Tracking and Surveillance System, and Transformational Satellite Communications System programs. Space Technology operating income increased 10 percent to $65 million.
    Overall, Northrop Grumman reported a 6 percent increase in sales for the quarter to $7.7 billion, but profits slipped 32 percent to $264 million in the same period, due primarily to a pre-tax charge of $326 million for cost growth and schedule extension in the company’s LHD-8 assault ship program for the U.S. Navy.