Up to $462M for RC-12 Guardrail Modernization
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Contracts - Awards, Northrop-Grumman, Signals Intercept, Cryptography, etc., Specialty Aircraft, Support Functions - Other
(click to view full)
It’s derived from Hawker-Beechcraft’s popular King Air B200, and looks like a dog that just finished chasing a family of porcupines. It’s also one of the 3 electronic eavesdropping and surveillance planes slated for replacement by the joint Army-Navy Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) jet, after serving for over 3 decades in remote trouble spots and large-scale wars around the globe. The $8 billion ACS program’s suspension, “back to square one” delay, and joint status uncertainties, however, have turned the RC-12 Guardrail a critical asset that needs to serve longer. To do that, it will need to improve its ability to perform in current and future environments.
To that end, long-standing Guardrail fleet prime contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a Guardrail Modernization system integration contract to continue upgrading and enhancing the system, extending its operational life beyond 2020. The Army Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors issued the 5 year indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contract, which has a 5-year option and a total potential value of $462 million. The PEO also awarded Northrop Grumman $25 million for the first 2 task orders, to cover signals intelligence sensor upgrades.
Over the life of the program, the idea is to improve the Guardrail’s ability to process and exploit intercepted signals, while adding precision geo-location, upgraded situational awareness, and improved overall systems performance. It happens to your computers; it happens to theirs, too. Northrop Grumman also hopes to reduce the plane’s payload weight as it swaps in smaller, more powerful electronics. This extra space, and the ability of more advanced components to do “double duty” in some cases, will allow the program to address new threats and situations as they evolve. The upgrades will be implemented in an incremental, evolutionary approach rather than a “big bang to standard configuration”; despite this incremental approach, Northrop Grumman ultimately intends to provide a single standard RC-12 configuration for the entire fleet. NGC release.
