The Department of Defense issued 10 new contracts on Tuesday worth a combined $7.42 billion. Notwithstanding the large headline number, one single contract for the supply of wind energy to the U.S. Army accounted for 94% of the funds on offer.
That was the largest contract awarded Monday, by far. As for the second largest contract, though -- that one went to Northrop Grumman (NOC 1.38%).
Northrop Grumman's award, a $219.1 million firm-fixed and cost-type, partial foreign military sales contract, is a follow-on production contract instructing Northrop to produce Joint Threat Emitters (JTE) and associated drawings, technical orders, retrofit kits, and software for use by Air Force pilots. Northrop describes JTE as a device for offering "true warfighter training" for combat aircrews.
Is it hostile or is it Northrop's JTE? Source: Northrop Grumman.
It is essentially a non-lethal simulator that acts -- and appears to the military pilots being "lit up" by its radar signals to be -- either one or many hostile Surface-to-Air and Anti-Aircraft Artillery radar systems. Encountering signals from a JTE while in flight, aircrews will have a realistic adversary to train against in trying to defeat or evade anti-aircraft radars "in a war-like training environment."
Northrop is expected to complete delivery of the JTE systems by March 2016. In addition to the U.S. Air Force, Northrop will be delivering JTEs also to the allied Royal Saudi Air Force.
