The Air Force said yesterday it awarded Northrop Grumman [NOC] a $555.6 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) modernization.

The tasks on each delivery or task order will fall into, but are not limited to, the following categories: management, including program, business and technical areas; engineering efforts, including configuration management, data management, reliability, availability and maintainability; and other areas such as technical refresh, diminishing manufacturing sources; and studies an analyses.

Work is expected to be completed by May 14, 2015. The award is the result of a sole source acquisition. The Air Force did not specify which Global Hawk block would be modernized.

The Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 10 (foreground). Photo: Northrop Grumman.