Northrop Grumman has a handle on cost overruns that have plagued the National Polar-orbiting Observational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), and the program can be completed for $11.5 billion, an official said.

“We can do this system within that total cost,” David Ryan, sector vice president and NPOESS program director for Northrop Grumman, said at a media briefing in Washington.

What still is being negotiated with government officials is just how much of that $11.5 billion total NPOESS outlay would be provided in each fiscal year, Ryan said. “We’re working very closely with the government to figure out what the constraints would be on a fiscal year by fiscal year basis,” he said.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for NPOESS, and Ryan said the total $11.5 billion outlay would cover four satellites, ground systems, “the whole network,” infrastructure costs and launch vehicles.

As originally envisioned, NPOESS was to be a constellation of six or more satellites providing an environmental and climate monitoring system. But program leaders, confronted with cost overruns, responded by considering cuts in the number of satellites and sensors they carry. However, for any sensor that might not be included in the first satellite, there may be space on later satellites if money becomes available in future years, a source said.

The original $4.5 billion contract for NPOESS was awarded in 2002 to TRW (now part of Northrop Grumman), heading a team that includes Raytheon Corp. NPOESS is to be a joint program of NASA, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Department of Defense that will provide weather and climate data to government and civilian users.

Contractors are aiming to launch an NPOESS satellite in 2009, Ryan said.

— Dave Ahearn