Lockheed Martin is to update and maintain the U.S. Marine Corps system for managing and monitoring aircraft.

The system is the Virtualized Theater Battle Management Core Systems, which interfaces with Joint Services and Coalition systems to enable synchronized air mission planning.

Under an $18 million award, the company will ensure that TBMCS provides fast access to real-time operations information and has better planning and collaboration tools at reduced sustainment costs. Updates for about 200 integrated software applications -- from large planning tools to smaller "plug-in" applets that allow force status monitoring -- will be provided.

Other responsibilities under the contract include maintaining the system's airspace de-confliction applications for coordination of precision attack and updating system tools for air tasking and airspace control orders.

"By automating the way air power is commanded and controlled, TBMCS provides a seamless information flow that shortens decision cycles," said Dr. Rob Smith, vice president of C4ISR for Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions. "For nearly two decades, we have managed TBMCS. We'll leverage our years of technical experience to ensure that the system remains aligned to the Marines' overall mission."

Details on the performance period of the contract were not disclosed.