SAN DIEGO - June 1, 2005 - Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been selected by the U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center to develop and integrate the U.S. military's next-generation of joint and coalition network-management systems. The Joint Interface Control Officer (JICO) Support System will manage complex tactical networks through an automated toolset and information repository that enables planning, management and analysis of communications before, during and after operations.
Northrop Grumman's Mission Systems sector won the $39.4 million contract as one of three competing teams. Each team developed a proposed JICO Support System solution under a phase-one study contract and demonstrated its solutions during a week-long joint demonstration for U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine Corps representatives.
The contract, including production options, could be worth as much as $124 million through July 2008.
Joint interface control officers use the JICO Support System to plan, establish and operate tactical communications in local or wide-area theaters of operations. The ruggedized, transportable system has all the digitized data and voice communications capabilities needed to support JICO functions and can be deployed rapidly in severe environments.
The Air Force is the lead acquisition service for this multi-service investment program.
"Northrop Grumman's solution leverages our proven network-management technology," said Mike Twyman, vice president of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' Communication & Information Systems unit. "The JICO Support System will provide net-centric services through a transformational management system to enable Internet protocol-based networks of the future to operate efficiently with current tactical networks."
"The win strengthens Northrop Grumman's position as a leader in systems for tactical network management," said Barry Rhine, vice president and general manager of the sector's Defense Mission Systems unit. "It places the company in a strong position to provide similar network management tools to the Department of Homeland Security and coalition partners in NATO and the Pacific Rim."
The Northrop Grumman team includes Ultra Electronics Holdings, Austin, Texas; Booz Allen Hamilton, Tampa, Fla.; EDO Communications and Countermeasures Systems, Simi Valley, Calif.; ProLogic, Incorporated, Manassas, Va.; SDS International, Arlington, Va.; Lockheed Martin STASYS Consulting, Reston, Va.; Thales Air Operations, Somerset, United Kingdom; ViaSat, Inc., Carlsbad, Calif.
Development and production will be done at Northrop Grumman Mission Systems' new state-of-the-art facility in San Diego.
Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, based in Reston, Va., is a global integrator of complex, mission-enabling systems and services for defense, intelligence and civil government markets. The sector's technology leadership and expertise spans areas such as strategic systems, including ICBMs; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; command and control; technical services; and training.