Northrop Grumman Wins $22 Million Air Force F-35 Radar Sustainment Contract

Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation has received a $22.3 million firm-fixed-price Air Force contract to sustain F-35 radar equipment. The Air Force Sustainment Center at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, awarded the contract, with work to be performed at Robins and in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. Performance is expected to be completed by March 31, 2032.

F-35 Radar Sustainment Details

Northrop Grumman will provide sustainment for the F-35 radar, part of the aircraft’s mission systems. The award places performance at both the company’s Linthicum Heights location and Robins Air Force Base, an Air Force sustainment center.

The award is focused on radar sustainment rather than procurement of a replacement radar. The government’s award notice does not identify a radar model or break out individual repair, engineering or parts-delivery tasks, so the publicly described work is narrower than the range of activities that F-35 sustainment can encompass.

F-35 Program Background

The contract comes as the F-35 program addresses declining fleet readiness. A June 2026 Government Accountability Office report found that the fleet’s mission-capable rate fell from 67% in fiscal 2021 to 44% in fiscal 2025. The F-35 Joint Program Office’s updated support strategy aims to reach an 80% mission-capable rate by 2030, though the report identified funding and industrial-capacity risks. The report does not tie this radar award to that strategy.

Radar modernization is proceeding alongside support for the fielded fleet. The Air Force’s fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement budget justification described plans for the APG-85 to replace the APG-81 radar in U.S. F-35s. The sustainment award does not identify which radar model it covers.

Award and Contractor Background

The award was a sole-source acquisition. An Air Force notice described the requirement as a follow-on and cited Northrop Grumman’s proprietary data as the reason for the sole-source approach. Other relevant Air Force awards to Northrop include a $6.9 million F-35 radar and distributed aperture system support contract with a potential performance end in March 2026 and a $1.8 million six-month F-35 radar support contract with a potential performance end in September 2026.

This award was disclosed by the DoW in its daily press release. Additional contract details will be available on HigherGov in approximately 90 days under FA857926C0013 after the contract is formally disclosed by the government.