When Justin Kessler , an applied mathematician at Northrop Grumman Information Systems , showed the results of the project to his managers , they were struck by the low price tag .
Blue Cross Blue Shield , Oracle ( orcl ) , Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) , Pfizer ( PFE ) , Devon Energy ( DVN ) , Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) , and Wal-Mart ( WMT ) all reported at least monitoring the talks .
Big defence suppliers such as Northrop Grumman and Boeing have been modelling future warfare for decades , building sophisticated computer models to test scenarios and assess potential solutions before they are delivered to the front line .
The company \'s American partner in the project , Northrop Grumman , pulled out of the process in March claiming the terms favour Boeing .
其美国合作伙伴若斯洛普格拉曼公司在3月份的时候宣布弃标，它认为认为竞标条件偏向于波音公司一方。
Two aerospace giants , Boeing Co.and Northrop Grumman Corp. , said on Tuesday they will form a partnership to compete for the contract to build NASA \'s next manned spaceship .
