Northrop Grumman wins joint tactical network deal

The company has won a $39.4 million contract from the Air Force to support the military's next generation of joint and coalition network management systems.

Northrop Grumman Corp. has won a $39.4 million contract from the Air Force Electronic Systems Center to support the military's next generation of joint and coalition network management systems, the company announced today.

The contract has a total estimated value of $124 million if all options are exercised over a roughly three-year period.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Reston, Va., will provide development and integration support for the Joint Interface Control Officer Support System. The work will be performed in San Diego.

The system is designed to manage complex tactical networks through an automated toolset and information repository that enables planning, management and analysis of communications before, during and after operations. The Air Force is lead acquisition service for the multiservice program.

Joint interface control officers use the support system to plan, establish and operate tactical communications in local or wide-area theaters of operations. The rugged and transportable system has all the digitized data and voice communications capabilities needed to support the control officers' functions, and can be deployed in severe environments.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' team includes Ultra Electronic Holdings Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., EDO Communications and Countermeasures Systems Inc., ProLogic Inc., SDS International Inc., Lockheed Martin Stasys Consulting, Thales Air Operations and ViaSat Inc.

Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is a unit of Northrop Grumman of Los Angeles. The company has more than 125,000 employees and annual sales of $29.9 billion. The company ranks No. 2 on Washington Technology's 2005 Top 100 list, which measures federal contracting revenue.