Army buys Blue Force parts

Northrop Grumman will get $6.8 million for hardware and parts for the system that lets troops track forces digitally.

The Army awarded a $6.8 million contract to Northrop Grumman Corp. to buy more hardware and parts for the system that lets troops digitally track forces.

The company's Space and Mission Systems division, located in Carson, Calif., will deliver 2,775 installation kits, 4,171 cables and other equipment for the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade-and-Below System, according to a Feb. 26 Defense Department announcement. FBCB2 is also called Blue Force Tracking because computer screens in Army air and ground vehicles display friendly troops as blue icons and enemy forces and red ones.

The $6.8 million contract is part of a $13.5 million deal the Army signed in January with Northrop Grumman. The company will perform the FBCB2 work in Carson and finish it by May.

The Army will install FBCB2 and other communications and warfighting system updates in equipment used by the Third Infantry Division, located at Fort Stewart, Ga., and the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, located at Fort Carson, Colo. The service already implemented these systems' improvements in the Fourth Infantry Division and the First Cavalry Division, located at Fort Hood, Texas.

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