It is based on the real life aircraft manufacturer of the same name. It was formed as a merger of the Northrop Corparation (sometimes spelled as Northrom in the Macross Timeline) and Grumman. Northrop Gumman is famous for manufacturing the sweep-wing jet fighter, the F-14 Tomcat, the basis of the first variable fighters used by the U.N. Spacy in the Macross universe.