The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) a one-year, $140 million contract modification to provide payload and operations support for an airborne communications relay that works to help warfighters transmit data and gain situational awareness.
Northrop will perform support work on the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node in San Diego, California, and various international locations through Jan. 23, 2018, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center obligated $59.2 million at the time of the award from the military service’s fiscal 2017 overseas contingency operation and operation and maintenance funds.
BACN is designed to integrate with Northrop’s RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system and a military variant of the Bombardier BD-700 aircraft.
The system employs an airborne executive processor meant to serve as a persistent gateway for military users to receive, bridge and distribute communications during a combat mission.
