Northrop Sustainment Deal

Northrop Grumman has become the third major defense contractor to sign an enterprise-level, public-private partnership agreement with the Air Force Sustainment Center after Lockheed Martin in 2014 and Boeing the year before.

The sustainment center is comprised of air logistics complexes at Tinker Air Force Base, OK, Hill Air Force Base, UT, and Robins Air Force Base, GA, that maintain and support the service's aircraft fleets and weapons. The partnership sets pre-negotiated terms and conditions for Northrop support at all three installations.

The deals with Northrop, Lockheed and Boeing are a departure from the old way of doing business, where each air logistics complex would negotiate its own contractor terms and conditions.

"This partnership enables us not only to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of operations, but it also allows the Air Force to grow its organic capability, while leveraging capabilities across the industrial complex to provide world-class sustainment support to the warfighter," AFSC Commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield said in a March 20 Northrop statement.