Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to provide post-production life cycle support for mobile command, control and communications systems through September 2014.

Under the $7.3 million firm-fixed-price contract, Northrop Grumman will provide life cycle support of the AN/TYQ-23(V)4 Tactical Air Operations Module (TAOM) and related subsystems.

"As the original equipment manufacturer of the AN/TYQ-23, Northrop Grumman has supported changing needs in the command and control arena for more than 40 years," said Ike Song, vice president, Situational Awareness Systems, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. "We are committed to providing continuing support that will maximize performance and warfighter safety."

The AN/TYQ-23(V)4 TAOM is a transportable command, control and communications facility that works in conjunction with the AN/TYQ-87(V)2 Sector Anti-Air Warfare Facility and peripheral equipment for surveillance, identification, threat evaluation, weapons coordination, airspace management and communications capabilities.

It serves as the hub of the Marine Corps Tactical Air Operations Center, which is the principal airspace control and management agency for the Marines. Each AN/TYQ-23(V)4 contains mission-essential equipment such as computers as well as digital voice communications systems required for command and control functions.

Under the new contract, Northrop Grumman will help to sustain and upgrade the circuit card assemblies, software and hardware of the command and control systems that support the Tactical Air Operations Center. Significant software improvements will be made to the Multi-Radar Tracker and Data Communications Unit.