Northrop Grumman Corp. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. said on Tuesday that they are teaming up to bid on a five-year, $2.6 billion contract for an Army translation project in Iraq.

The U.S. Army’s Interpreter and Translator Management Services contract is expected to be awarded in January. The work is now done by Titan Corp., which New York-based L-3 bought July 29 for $1.97 billion. The Army expects to need 6,050 mainly Arabic translators in Iraq.

L.A.-based Northrop’s Mission Systems unit provides interpreter and linguist management services in the Balkans, under a contract first awarded in 1995 by the U.S. Army, Europe. L-3’s government services group is currently performing similar work on the Army’s worldwide linguist support services contract.

Shares of Northrop rose 0.5 percent to settle at $56.91 on Tuesday.