Northrop Grumman Corp. ( NOC ) has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Army to provide training development, instruction and analysis to artillery observers and electronic warfare specialists at the Joint Fires Center of Excellence (COE) in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The Joint Fires COE contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a potential value of more than $250 million over five years. The Joint Fires COE focuses on imparting training to all the military services emphasizing planning, coordinating and executing fires support in a joint operations environment. Northrop Grumman will provide training, training development and training analysis for joint fires courses at the COE. Northrop Grumman’s total order backlog at fiscal-end 2009 stood at $69.2 billion compared to $76.4 billion at fiscal-end 2008. The company bagged $32.3 billion of new orders during fiscal 2009. However at the same time it witnessed the cancellation of the $5.8 billion Kinetic Energy Interceptor program. Northrop Grumman’s success in the competitive defense industry depends upon its ability to develop and market its defense-related products and services to the U.S. Government, as well as its ability to provide people, technologies, facilities, equipment and financial capacity needed to deliver those products and services at peak efficiency. The company competes with Force Protection Inc. ( FRPT ), General Dynamics Corp. ( GD ) and Boeing Co. ( BA ). Based in Los Angeles, California, Northrop Grumman provides products, services and solutions in information and services, aerospace, electronics and shipbuilding to the military, government and commercial customers of United States and beyond. The company is the largest IT service provider to the federal government. We maintain our Neutral recommendation on shares of Northrop Grumman. Read the full analyst report on "NOC" Read the full analyst report on "FRPT" Read the full analyst report on "GD" Read the full analyst report on "BA" Zacks Investment Research