Northrop Grumman [NOC] has won a $276.3 million contract to supply aircraft battlefield communication equipment to the Pentagon, the service recently said.
The U.S. Air Force Electronic Systems Center awarded the 18-month contract for fielding of the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) on two business jets and two Global Hawk Block 20 unmanned aerial vehicles. BACN provides real-time battlefield information to troops on the ground, the Defense Department said in a statement.
Northrop Grumman will initially install the system into three Bombardier BD-700 Global Express aircraft and, eventually, into two unmanned Global Hawk drones. The equipment is a relay system that enables users of incompatible military radios to communicate with one another, according to Northrop Grumman.
The Air Force deployed a first BD-700 business jet with BACN in December in response to an urgent operational need issued by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The new contract will augment the original asset for CENTCOM.
BD-700s fly at approximately 40,000 feet and can stay airborne for more than eight consecutive hours. The Bombardier capability is planned as a short-term solution until the Global Hawk Block 20 can be upgraded with the BACN capability, Lt. Col. Joe Keelon, the Air Force’s BACN program manager, said yesterday in a statement. The Air Force is projecting that the Global Hawk Block 20 capability will be available for deployment in fiscal year 2011.
BACN can relay voice communication over long distances and can bridge between frequencies, according to an Air Force spokeswoman. For example, a commander on the ground using a less sophisticated radio can communicate with a close air support pilot on a secure frequency by using BACN.
BACN also extends the range of data links and provides translation to enable information sharing across the theater of operations, according to an Air Force press statement. This aids command and control and provides situational awareness.
BACN’s payload contains a number of different radios and waveforms, including VHF-FM, VHF-AM, UHF-AM, UHF SATCOM, SINCGARS, HAVEQUICK I/II, SADL, EPLRS, Link 16 and Common Data Link terminals, according to the Air Force. All the radios are linked through a central computer. The BACN payload operator remotely updates the gateway manager through a ground terminal.
Additional BACN capability was listed as the Air Force’s number one priority on its fiscal year ’10 unfunded wish list sent to Congress last month.