Northrop-Grumman paid $111.2 million to settle claims that TRW Inc, a company acquired by Northrop in December 2002, had violated the False Claims Act 31 USC §§ 3729-3733, et. seq. The government alleged that “In 1991 and 1992, TRW mischarged two costs – independent research and development (IR&D), as well as bid and proposal – associated with its attempt to enter the space launch vehicle business. According to the complaint, if TRW had correctly accounted for those costs, the federal government would not have reimbursed the company or them, because in 1991 and 1992 TRW exceeded the government’s ceiling on what it would pay for IR&D and bid and proposal costs.” It was also alleged that TRW “mischarged the costs of fabricating and testing a prototype satellite solar array wing as ‘capital equipment’ rather than as IR&D” in order to avoid the government ceiling on IR&D expenditures.