HILL AIR FORCE BASE — A nearly $1 billion defense contract that involves maintaining the United States’ intercontinental missile reserve will bring a cluster of new work to Hill Air Force Base.

According to the Department of Defense contracts office, the U.S. Air Force just awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a contract for the support of Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Ground Subsystems. Northrop is the sole award recipient for the contract, which is valued at $963.5 million, with an initial award value of approximately $4.4 million.

A Northrop news release said the company will provide program management support, engineering services, weapon system analysis and emergency response to the Air Force as part of the five-year contract, which expires Jan. 31, 2020.

The work will be performed by Northrop personnel at Hill, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and Northrop facilities in San Bernardino, Calif., and Omaha, Neb.

Col. Ryan Britton, director of Hill’s ICBM Systems Directorate, said the new contract is a piece of a larger initiative called the “Future ICBM Sustainment and Acquisition Construct.”

Britton said the Northrop contract was the fourth of what will be five contract efforts under the FISAC. The other contracts are for work associated with ground, propulsion, re-entry and guidance subsystems for the ICBM system.

Britton said Hill’s ICBM Systems Directorate has recently gained a number of manpower positions to support new Minuteman III sustainment programs and other related workloads.

Steve Hogan, sector vice president and general manager at Northrop, said the company has had more than 50 years experience partnering with the Air Force on ICBMs.

In a statement, Hogan said Northrop’s experience “uniquely qualifies us to perform the required operational and sustainment activities that ensure the security, surety and reliability of our nation’s ICBM weapon system.”