The Department of Defense issued 27 new contracts Thursday, worth a combined $1.45 billion. Of these, Northrop Grumman (NOC 1.96%) won three:
- Northrop's biggest win was an estimated $169.8 million modification to a contract to provide logistics support for Air Force RQ-4 Global Hawks. Northrop will be responsible for all logistics support activities involving the UAVs themselves, their engines, payloads, and ground operations through Sept. 30, 2014.
- Northrop also won a $28.6 million contract modification to complete development of maritime modes on the Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program (MP-RTIP). MP-RTIP is a long range, very high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR), used for identifying targets both on the ground and in the air -- on the Global Hawk. The Pentagon noted that this modification, which extends Northrop's contract through May 2015, brings the contract's cumulative value up past $1.5 billion.
- Finally, Northrop was awarded a$11.6 million contract modification to perform software development and flight test work on three type E special signals for the Air Force. This contract runs through March 6, 2015.
