Boeing Integrated Defense Systems of St. Louis was awarded a $5.4 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for initial planning activities related to integrating new communications terminals with the service’s fleet of B-52 bombers, a Sept. 29 Boeing press release said.

The company will develop system requirements and do planning and risk reduction activities associated with using its Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals to connect B-52 aircraft to communications nodes on the ground, in the air and in space, the release said. The potential second and third increments of the contract would have Boeing design and install the new extremely high frequency transceivers and integrate the system with the Pentagon’s Global Information Grid. The work could be worth more than $100 million, the release said.