Northrop Grumman Space Technology was awarded a contract modification including a cost-plus-award-fee with multiple incentives worth $2.35 billion in the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) acquisition and operations contract, the U.S. Department of Defense announced July 30. NPOESS is 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.

The modification essentially changed the requirements and associated costs for the production of two satellites, with scheduled launch dates delayed from 2009 to 2013 for the C1 satellite, and from 2013 to 2016 for the C2 satellite. A production follow-on may provide for two additional satellites, the costs of which were not included.

In a separate deal, Northrop Grumman’s Electronics Sensors Systems Section was awarded a cost-plus-award-fee contract modification for $18.9 million to test, repair, and replace sensor hardware as part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Group, Service Life Extension program (SLEP). That work is due for completion by November 2014.