Northrop Grumman Awarded $65 Million Contract to Provide Situational Awareness for U.S. Air Force Airlift Crews

source brahmand.com

SAN DIEGO, July 14, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)

The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a $65 million contract to provide tactical situational awareness to airlift aircrews, fulfilling an urgent operational need for enhanced communications and an operational picture of the battlespace displayed in the cockpit.

Northrop Grumman will provide the Air Force Air Mobility Command with 58 Mobility Air Forces (MAF) Dynamic Re-tasking Capability (DRC) Urgent Operational Need (UON) systems, including spares, before June 30, 2012. The systems will be installed in 28 C-130J and 24 C-17 aircraft.

The contract also includes two years of training and payload support at four integration sites in the United States and three overseas locations. 

The MAF DRC system includes a secure line-of-sight and beyond line-of-sight datalink; display systems for the pilot and co-pilot; a processor/server for command and control of the radios and displays; and presentation and recording of the existing host aircraft navigational system data.

The contract was awarded by the Air Force Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.

This Northrop Grumman effort for the Air Mobility Command is closely related to its work on the Real Time Information in the Cockpit (RTIC) program. Under a contract awarded in September 2010, the company is providing a RTIC capability for Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve Command C-130H aircraft.