Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract worth about $433 million to provide logistics support services for the US Air Force's fleet of RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicles.

Outlined in a notification published by the US Department of Defense on 25 March, the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract will run until 30 September 2014. The deal covers "contractor logistics support for the RQ-4 Global Hawk fielded weapon system", the DoD says.

 RQ-4 Global Hawk - US Air Force

US Air Force

The USAF has an active inventory of about 20 of the high-altitude, long-endurance surveillance aircraft, a variant of which is also being developed for operations with the US Navy.

Source: Flight International