FILE PHOTO - A U.S. Air Force maintainer makes his way into a hangar packed with RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft, at an Air Force base in Arabian Gulf, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Northrop Grumman Corp NOC.N has been awarded a $490 million U.S. defense contract for the sale to Japan of Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft, the Pentagon said on Monday.