The US Navy has awarded L3Harris Technologies a contract worth $496 million for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the next generation jammer low band (NGJ-LB) program.
The contract supports the final design efforts and manufacturing of eight operational prototype pods and four test pods that will be used for various levels of testing and fleet employment to include airworthiness, functionality, and integration with and carriage on the EA-18G Growler host aircraft.
The contract award announcement from Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) Program Office (PMA-234), the managing office for product acquisition, comes directly on the heels of NGJ-LB entering the EMD acquisition phase, often referred to as Milestone B (MS B).
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts signed the MS B Acquisition Decision Memorandum Dec. 8, signifying his satisfaction with NGJ-LB’s proposed cost, schedule and performance intentions.
The program embarked on a demonstration of existing technologies in late 2018, which informed technical maturity of capabilities. Originally the program was approved as a middle tier acquisition program due to the need for speed to fleet, but changes in policy mandated that the Navy rapidly move the program to a major defense acquisition program.
“NGJ-LB is the next step in the evolution of airborne electronic attack that is needed to meet current and emerging electronic warfare gaps,” said Rear Adm. Shane Gahagan, Program Executive Officer, Tactical Aircraft Programs. “The increased jamming capability that NGJ-LB brings to the warfighter is critical to sustaining the future missions of the Navy and other services.”
NGJ-LB is an external jamming pod that will address advanced and emerging threats using the latest digital, software-based array technologies and will provide enhanced AEA capabilities to disrupt, deny and degrade enemy air defense and ground communication systems.
“Our AEA arsenal continues to expand with the NGJ-LB capability,” said Capt. Michael Orr, PMA-234 program manager. “With the NGJ-LB EMD contract award, we continue our focus on delivering the warfighter an unsurpassed capability.”
NGJ-LB is part of a larger NGJ weapon system that will augment, and ultimately replace the legacy ALQ-99 tactical jamming system pods in the low frequency spectrum currently used on the Growler. The weapons system is a joint program initiative with Australia.
