Northrop Grumman Wins $81 Million Weapon System Modernization Program Contract

Northrop Grumman has won a $81 million contract for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Air Operations Center Weapon System (AOC WS) modernization program.

The authority to proceed with the EMD phase follows the Department of Defense (DOD) Milestone B approval in October. During the EMD phase, the program will complete detailed design, formal test and field the modernized system to geographic AOCs.

"Milestone B is an important DOD endorsement for the acquisition strategy of the AOC WS modernization program," said Mike Twyman, vice president and general manager of defense systems division for Northrop Grumman Information Systems. "We look forward to continued collaboration with the Air Force to realize the affordability benefits and a fully integrated, evolvable net-centric capability."

Northrop Grumman is applying an open systems approach and integrating cybersecurity to modernize the Air Force's essential operational-level command and control (C2) centers. The effort will deliver greater C2 affordability over the life cycle and enable more effective, dynamic planning and execution.

Key activities in 2014 include completing the critical design review and continuing the series of warfighter analysis workshops to demonstrate the system to operational users and incorporate their feedback to optimize system usability.

In conjunction with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., and Air Combat Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va., Northrop Grumman is modernizing the AOC by developing a secure, streamlined computing environment for legacy and future applications. The AOC WS modernization effort will decrease hardware footprint and improve system manageability, which can reduce total ownership costs. Objectives include delivering a common computing environment to reduce manual information sharing between systems and building the foundation for future C2 needs. AOC modernization also aims to accelerate the integration of new applications and enable flexibility to deliver modular, mission-tailorable capabilities to warfighters.