Over the past two in-sequester days, the Pentagon has awarded a total of 42 separate contracts to various contractors, worth well over $4 billion in aggregate.
Among many beneficiaries, Northrop Grumman (NOC +1.29%) won a total of four contracts in two days:
- The largest of the four awards, for $49.3 million, came in the form of a contract for "guardrail modernization system spare parts." Contrary to what the name might suggest, this contract has nothing to do with roadside safety, rather referring to the U.S. Army's upgrade of its RC-12X "Guardrail" signals intelligence (SIGINT) aircraft, which is built upon a Beechcraft King Air turboprop chassis. The contract has a March 5, 2018 completion date.
- Northrop Grumman won a $22.2 million contract modification award on its contract to upgrade the cryptography on remote key/code changes in the nation's ICBM fleet. This contract runs through Aug. 3, 2013.
- The company's Electronic Systems Sector, Land and Self Protection Systems Division, won an $11.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract "for software and the integration of that software into the hardware design of the AN/APR-39D(V)2 processor and appropriate antennas and receiver resources in support of various naval aviation platforms. " This award refers to upgrades on radar "threat" receivers, which alert a pilot to the fact that he is being tracked by enemy weapons-targeting radar. Work on this one should be completed by March 2014.
- Finally, Northrop's Information Systems division won a $9.8 million contract exercising an option on a previous contract for systems sustainment in support of a biometrics database. Completion date: Feb. 28, 2014.
