Northrop Grumman awarded US Army contract for MQ5B Hunter UAV fleet support.

Northrop Grumman was awarded a $163,588,331 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Hunter unmanned aircraft system fleet support for operations, maintenance, engineering, re-engineering and remanufacturing.

MQ-5B Hunter (Picture source: Northrop Grumman)

One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Sierra Vista, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of May 9, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $41,883,787 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

The MQ-5B Hunter is a long endurance, medium altitude, multi-mission, tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) optimized to provide army division and corps commanders with a dedicated Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capability.

The MQ-5B conducts battlefield surveillance using multiple sensors, including its multi-mission EO/IR/LD/LRF/Illuminator and SIGINT payloads. Flying over the battlefield, it gathers ISR data in real time, and transmits it via wideband Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL) to commanders and soldiers on the ground who are able to communicate in real-time via Hunter’s Communications Relay Payload. Hunter’s multi-payload capability provides enhanced situational awareness and the ability to proactively plan and execute decisive combat operations.