Northrop Continues with Bomber Upgrade

Northrop Grumman has received a $14 million contract extension to continue its work in integrating the Common Link Integration Processing system on the Air Force’s B-1B and B-52 bombers, the company announced Thursday. CLIP is a software package that enhances aircrew battlefield awareness, communications, and weapons management capabilities. The entire B-1 and B-52 fleets are getting this upgrade. Over the next 17 months, Northrop will conduct software integration and ground and flight tests, and support Air Force and joint interoperability certifications. In June, CLIP completed its first test flight as a component of the B-1’s Fully Integrated Data Link program. The company has been developing CLIP since June 2005.