Northrop Lands $464M IDIQ Award to Maintain USAF Airborne Comms Platform

Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) has secured a five-year, $464.4 million contract to operate and sustain communications hardware for the U.S. Air Force’s E-11A aircraft.

The company will perform maintenance work on the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node system, components and ancillary equipment under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, the Department of Defense said Tuesday.

DOD added that Northrop will support the establishment of a BACN E-11A fleet operating base at an undisclosed Air Force installation in the continental U.S.

The service branch awarded the contract after a competitive acquisition procedure and is obligating $37.6 million in fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance funds on the award.

Northrop initially received a five-year, $3.6 billion contract in January 2021 to develop, test and integrate the node. In November 2022, USAF tasked the company to equip two additional E-11A business jets with the BACN payload.

BACN is designed to translate and distribute voice communications and battlespace data from multiple sources to improve joint forces interoperability and situational awareness.

Sponsor