The Army awarded Northrop Grumman [NOC] an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract to provide force protection systems and components in theater and the continental United States.

Northrop Grumman is among 19 companies awarded this ID/IQ contract under the direction of the Army Product Manager, Force Protection Systems, Fort Belvoir, Va.

The companies, which also include BAE Systems, DRS [DRS], ITT [ITT], SAIC [SAI], Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Ideal Innovations Inc., will compete for task orders under the contract, which has a potential value of $997 million collectively over a three-year base and two-year option, making the potential period of performance five years.

“We look forward to continuing to demonstrate the value of our scalable systems approach to deliver more flexible, integrated and affordable force protection solutions to the Army,” said Mike Twyman, vice president of integrated command, control, communications and intelligence systems for Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

“We will draw upon our extensive experience integrating complex, open-architecture systems to provide early detection and assessment of threats, thus enabling rapid decision-making and response,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The scope of this contract includes the design, development, production, integration, test, and installation of components and systems for early warning and protection of forces and critical assets. The contract also covers technology insertion and training for the systems.

Since 1996, Northrop Grumman has developed and deployed more than 100 force protection systems at installations in more than 18 countries. Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for crucial force protection programs including Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar, and Integrated Base Defense Security System.