The U.S. Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a 30-month, $540 million contract for Total System Support Responsibility (TSSR) of the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) fleet. This covers TSSR period 11.5 to 13 which began May 1, 2011 and concludes on Oct. 31, 2013.

"For over a decade, Northrop Grumman has been providing comprehensive and integrated performance-based logistics support to the 116th Air Control Wing, in the United States and at its forward operating locations, enabling top level performance of the Joint STARS weapon system," said Dale Burton, vice president of the intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and battle management command and control business which leads the Joint STARS program.

The 17-aircraft Joint STARS fleet is the only all-weather, long-range, real-time, wide area surveillance and battle management and command and control weapons system in the world. Joint STARS offers battlefield commanders real-time situational information, while simultaneously transmitting target locations to aircraft and ground strike forces.

Joint STARS is the only platform in the U.S. arsenal that combines accurate wide-area moving target detection with synthetic aperture radar imagery to locate, classify and track ground targets in all weather conditions from standoff distances.

Under the TSSR program, Northrop Grumman is partnered with the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center (ALC) to provide integrated logistics support to the 116th Air Control Wing for all facets of base and depot level maintenance. The ALC and Northrop Grumman use each other's best practices to provide Joint STARS support that is economical and fully meets the needs of warfighters.

In late October, Northrop Grumman's Joint STARS logistics team at Warner Robins ALC received the 2011 Performance-Based Logistics Award from the Secretary of Defense.

The System Level Beck Award recognizes those demonstrating outstanding achievement in providing warfighters with exceptional operational capability. The Joint STARS TSSR team was honored for integrating and executing a complex, innovative and effective product support strategy.

Superior material availability and reliability performance have allowed Joint STARS to support numerous operations with outstanding mission effectiveness. Proactive approaches in systems engineering, footprint reduction and obsolescence management have contributed to this high level of product support.

In addition, due to a close logistics partnership, the Air Force has been able to recognize a reduction of Joint STARS ownership costs.

The 116th ACW is a combined Georgia Air National Guard and active duty Air Force Wing, with more than 2,500 people assigned to the unit. To date, Joint STARS has accumulated over 72,650 combat hours in 6,750 missions supporting operations, including ongoing support to Operation New Dawn over Iraq, Operation Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan, and Operation Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector over Libya.

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems is the prime contractor for the E-8C Joint STARS. Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems' Norden Systems unit in Norwalk, Conn., manufactures the Joint STARS radar sensor.

The first E-8C Joint STARS was delivered to the Air Force on March 4, 1996, and the last fully configured aircraft was delivered on March 22, 2005.

On Dec. 20, 2008, the programs' T-3 testbed aircraft flew with new engines for the first time and the company is currently testing additional radar and sensor capabilities on its aircraft in Melbourne, Fla. Northrop Grumman anticipates fielding those capabilities to the entire 17-aircraft fleet over the next several years.