The Pentagon gave Northrop Grumman Corp. a $60.6 million price incentive, firm target contract to acquire long lead parts/advance procurement items for RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Integrated Systems Air Combat Systems, in San Diego, will obtain items needed for lot six in the UAV program.

That will involve materials for six RQ-4Bs; three mission control elements; three launch recovery elements; support segment-support equipment and initial spares.

The company is to complete its work by March under the contract, which is managed by the Headquarters Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

UAVs, especially those with long endurance such as the Global Hawk, can be used at times in place of satellites, serving as nodes in a secure communications network, or as video and communications signals intelligence-gathering platforms.