The U.S. Air Force has asked Northrop Grumman to cease development work on the air operations center modernization program “until further notice,†Bloomberg reported Friday.Anthony Capaccio writes the stop-work request took effect Wednesday after the Senate Armed Services Committee refused to pass a plan to reprogram $66 million in funds from other accounts to pay for a part of the AOC 10.2 network’s overrun.
Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, said the stop-work order does not terminate the contract, but has been issued due to lack of sufficient funds to further support the project this year.
The AOC network is designed to provide command-and-control functionality to help the service branch’s commanders plan and execute operations across air, cyber and space domains.
The AOC modernization program seeks to update the service branch’s operational-level C2 centers, advance the integration of new applications in support of warfighters and reduce data technology footprint through the development of a streamlined computing environment.
A November 2016 report to Congress obtained by Bloomberg News shows that the AOC 10.2 network program is now projected to record $745 million in development costs, up from its original estimated cost of $374 million, Capaccio reported.
This story was originally published on April 21, 2017.
