Northrop Grumman wins USAF C2 contract

Northrop Grumman has announced that it has been selected by the US Air Force (USAF) for the Air and Space Operations Centre (AOC) Weapon System (WS) modernisation programme. The company has been awarded an initial award of $120 million for the contract, which has a potential value of $504 million over eight years, if all options are exercised.

AOC WS is the command and control (C2) centre for planning, executing and assessing joint air operations during a contingency or conflict. Under the contract from the Electronic Systems Centre, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., the team led by Northrop Grumman will modernise the AOC to enable greater battle space awareness and more effective, dynamic planning and execution.

AOC WS programme objectives include improving the speed of command by automating information exchange, accelerating the integration of warfighter capabilities and significantly reducing lifecycle costs. Tasking under the entire contract includes design, integration, test and delivery of a network-centric infrastructure and mission applications with fielding and sustainment at eight AOC sites.

Northrop Grumman said they will develop a solution built upon its Modular Open Systems Approach-Competitive (MOSA-C) model to offer ‘mission-tailorable capabilities and allow continuous lifecycle refresh and competition’.

MOSA-C is a strategic business and engineering process that achieves the lifecycle benefits of open-systems architecture and commercial off-the-shelf components and software. The MOSA-C process ensures vendor-neutral, enduring solutions that improve interoperability and lower the total cost of ownership.

The Northrop Grumman-led team includes AgilePath Corporation, Newburyport, Mass.; Capgemini Government Solutions, Herndon, Va.; ZelTech Technologies, Hampton, Va.; Layer 7 Technologies, Washington, D.C.; Bosh Global Services, Newport News, Va.; Applied Minds, Glendale, Calif.; and DMM Ventures, Yorktown, Va.