The aim of a new contract awarded to Northrop Grumman Corp. is to increase security of networks through which the Air Force sends both classified and unclassified information.

Northrop Grumman Information Technology of McLean, Va., will perform the work under a $14.5 million deal awarded through the Air Force’s Network Centric Solutions (Netcents) contract. The company’s team includes Science Applications International Corp., Booz Allen and Hamilton, X-Technologies and Innove.

Under the contract, Northrop Grumman IT will develop a system capable of judging the vulnerability of networks over their lifecycles. The system will use a mix of commercial and Defense Department software.

Additional work will include integration, testing and delivery of the so-called vulnerability lifecycle management system, which ultimately will be installed at about 130 Air Force locations worldwide.

The system will be configured to exchange network and security information with the Air Force Combat Information Transport System.

Northrop Grumman, which has more than 125,000 employees and annual sales of $29.8 billion, ranks No. 2 on Washington Technology’s 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors.