The Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a $4.8 billion, 10-year contract for RQ-4 Global Hawk development, modernization, retrofit and sustainment activities, the Defense Department announced Nov. 25. The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity deal supports work on all variants of the unmanned aerial vehicle - including program management, engineering, production line closeout, testing, overseas contingency operations and cybersecurity. Northrop has been working to field new technologies that enhance the Global Hawk's capabilities. The company announced in a Sept. 24 notice, for example, that it had delivered the MS-177 multispectral camera system, which provides added high-resolution imaging for intelligence-gathering missions. Meanwhile, the Air Force awarded the new contract as its looking to retire Block 20 and Block 30 RQ-4s - or about two-thirds of the service's Global Hawk fleet - and focus efforts on Block 40 aircraft.
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