$462m for Guardrail upgrade

, the prime contractor for the US Army's RC-12 Guardrail aircraft fleet, has been awarded a Guardrail modernisation system integration contract to continue upgrading and enhancing the system. The work will extend Guardrail's operational life beyond 2020.

Guardrail is a precision targeting, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform with more than three decades of worldwide operations, including Operation Desert Storm and Operation Enduring Freedom.

According to Northrop Grumman, Guardrail modernisation ensures the military continue to receive critical battlefield intelligence about current and emerging threats, enhances and more rapidly delivers precision targeting data, and maximises available combat power and the ability to engage the enemy at will.

The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is potentially valued at $462m. The contract's period of performance is for five years with one five-year option. The Army Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors also awarded the first two task orders under the contract, which have a combined value of $25m, to provide signals intelligence sensor upgrades.

The upgraded Guardrail system will provide advanced signals exploitation capability, enhanced signals intelligence processing, precision geo-location, upgraded situational awareness and overall improved systems performance.