Northrop Grumman,
BETHPAGE: Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a delivery order from the U.S. Navy to produce spares for the Improved Capability (ICAP) III Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) system on the EA-6B Prowler.
This $22 million firm-fixed-price order is in addition to a previous $73 million purchase earlier this year for four complete systems plus another partial system and spares. Both orders are part of a sole-source, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract awarded in March 2006.
Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector is the prime contractor for the EA-6B Prowler ICAP III system and it will perform services under this new contract at its Bethpage facility. Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector in Baltimore, which manufactures the ICAP III ALQ-218 receiver subsystem will perform much of the production work which will be complete in December 2009.
Prowler aircraft are a high-demand, low-density military asset used heavily in the global war on terror. The ICAP III is the latest of five generations of EA-6B airborne electronic-attack systems designed to identify, degrade and destroy enemy radar-guided air defense and communication systems. The primary new features in ICAP III Prowlers are the ALQ-218 receiver and the sophisticated algorithms developed to make ICAP III selective-reactive jamming and geolocation capabilities possible.
This purchase is the second lot of ICAP III systems bought by the Navy. Northrop Grumman has already delivered 10 Prowler aircraft modified with the new ICAP III system supporting two fleet squadrons and one fleet readiness squadron of the Electronic Attack Wing in Whidbey Island, Wash.
The Navy reached initial operational capability with the first squadron of four aircraft in early 2005 and that squadron has since deployed to support operations in Iraq. A second squadron became operational last summer and recently completed technical evaluation of the new Multifunction Information Distribution (MIDS) system. MIDS, which features the U.S. military's primary data-link system, LINK 16, will enable ICAP III Prowlers to become key nodes in the Navy's Sea Power 21 FORCEnet architecture. That squadron was also immediately deployed to Iraq in support of all coalition military forces.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a global defense company headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With more than 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
