Air Force Taps Northrop Grumman for Data System

Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles, has been chosen by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Rome, N.Y., to develop a real-time systems recovery program for distributed command and control systems, the company announced Aug. 22.

The two-year agreement is worth $851,000, according to the Air Force. The program, Data Resiliency in Information Warfare 2.0, is the successor to several recovery efforts sponsored by the Air Force. It will be executed by Northrop Grumman's information technology sector, based in Herndon Va.

"DRIW2 will demonstrate that real-time operational continuity can be maintained while providing full information recovery and reconstitution," said Peter Radesi, program manager, AFRL Defensive Information Warfare Branch. "The inherent immediate benefit is the direct technology transfer path to a wide range of U.S. Air Force command and control systems and related infrastructure providing information hardening and resiliency."

The technology is designed to keep large networks ? those used by airspace management, air defense or air traffic control ? operational when undergoing malicious attacks. Using intelligent, agent-based software and advanced programming techniques known as fuzzy logic, this technology restores data shortly after it has been erased.

The work will extend capabilities successfully used within single point systems. Under this contract, Northrop Grumman must demonstrate its technology can be used in distributed systems.

Work will also be done in reducing the amount of time and data needed for reconstruction.

This award is the third in a series of real-time recovery programs that the company has won, according to Northrop Grumman.