The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $108.1 million contract to buy 10 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters.
The Pentagon announced the contract on Sept. 9.
One third of the work will be conducted in Northrop Grumman’s Rancho Bernardo office, where the company manages all of its unmanned aircraft programs. Substantial work will be done in Ozark, Ala.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Moss Point, Miss.
The deal was not competitively procured.
The helicopters will be the larger variety of Fire Scout. The so-called MQ-8C is a Bell model 407 helicopter with added hardware and software that lets it operate autonomously. Its cockpit windows are blanked out and it carries a sensor turret under its nose.
The Naval Air Systems Command of Patuxent River, Md. awarded the contract.
Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) is based in Falls Church, Va., near Washington, D.C.