The Navy is replacing its E-6 Mercury fleet.
Northrop Grumman on April 3 announced the full team of subcontractors for its U.S. Navy E-XX Take-Charge-and-Move-Out (Tacamo) offer as the company prepares for requirements in an upcoming proposal.
Northrop is teaming with Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, Raytheon, Crescent Systems and Long Wave to integrate the Tacoma mission suite onto the Lockheed C-130J-30 that the Navy has selected to replace its E-6 Mercury fleet.
The announcement was made at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space symposium outside Washington, D.C.
The Navy’s fiscal 2024 budget request calls for procurement of the E-XX Tacamo to start in 2027, with three engineering and manufacturing development aircraft and six production aircraft the following year. Henry Cyr, Northrop’s director of multidomain command and control capture programs, says he expects the fleet to grow beyond those aircraft.
A draft request for proposals should come out in the coming weeks, and Cyr says the team will then focus on how to best meet requirements ahead of a research, development, test and engineering phase to start in 2024-2025.
The Navy selected the C-130J to replace the 707-based E-6s as part of its analysis of alternatives. Last year, it selected Collins Aerospace to design a Very Low Frequency communication system for the aircraft.
