[SatNews] Communications security is a crucial requirement for the nation's warfighters.

The U.S. Army has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) a contract to provide encryption devices that will upgrade communications security of the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2)-Blue Force Tracking (BFT) network, allowing warfighters to more broadly share critical information. FBCB2-BFT is the key situational awareness and command-and-control system used by U.S. and coalition forces. To date, more than 85,000 FBCB2-BFT systems have been deployed worldwide.

Under the five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract potentially worth $300 million, Northrop Grumman will supply Programmable In-Line Encryption Devices (PIED) for installation in FBCB2-BFT platforms and network operations centers worldwide. The U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command Contracting Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., awarded an initial delivery order of $18 million on April 16. The PIED, which is certified by the National Security Agency, will provide vital security to the network by encrypting sensitive data. The PIED software is fully interoperable with the Joint Capability Release (JCR) — the next version of FBCB2 software developed by Northrop Grumman — and is designed to support both the currently fielded network and the next-generation BFT-2 network.