Leonardo DRS has received a potential eight-year, $977 million deal to continue supporting Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) global telecommunications network, the Pentagon said Friday evening.
The new blanket purchase agreement (BPA) tasks Leonardo DRS with providing commercial satellite communications capabilities and operations center support for SOCOM’s Global Access Network (GAN), and follows the company’s previous 17 years of work on the system.
“We are dedicated to delivering a strong, secure and comprehensive technical solution that ensures U.S. Special Operations Forces have connectivity when and where it is required,” Dave Fields, senior vice president of Leonardo DRS’ Global Enterprise Solutions division, said in a statement. “With our deep experience in this program, we understand our customers’ needs for this unique and critical mission.”
Core requirements for the GAN contract align with previous work on the systems, company spokesman Mike Mount told Defense Daily, noting Leonardo DRS will continue to assess new capabilities as needed.
“We’re always developing new services to support USSOCOM’s evolving mission. The purpose of this BPA is to allow USSOCOM the flexibility to order whatever solutions they need to fit the changing global mission environment,” Mount said.
Leonardo DRS’ latest deal for GAN support was a one-year $92.4 million bridge deal which ends this June.