The Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., awarded Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. an $8.8 million contract for 34 Deployable Instrument Landing Systems to support contingency and humanitarian operations. The fixed priced contract could be worth up to $58 million if all options are exercised, according to a release. The D-ILS will guide aircraft on final approach in low visibility or low-ceiling weather conditions. Unlike fixed-based instrument landing systems, which are large structures that require multiple aircraft to transport, the new system can be moved on one C-130 and will take two people a week to set up. It can “convert a bare forward operating base into a precision-approach-capable operating airfield,” according the release. Production is slated to begin in the middle of 2013 with initial operational capability expected in early Fiscal 2014. “There will always be a need to support contingency operations and if weather situations continue to ravage the world, the ability to assist in humanitarian operations will become very important,” said Matthew MacGregor, D-ILS program manager.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…