Raytheon, Northrop Leaders Talk Updates to Navy’s Next-Gen Jammer Effort

Raytheon and Northrop Grumman officials have said that the next-generation jammer pods they are developing for the U.S. Navy will feature self-contained power supplies and the capacity to switch frequencies, C4ISRnet reported Monday.

The Navy selected Raytheon to develop the Next Generation Jammer mid-band pod in 2016. Northrop secured the contract for the low-band pod and partnered with Comtech Telecommunications and L3Harris in 2018.

The service has earmarked funding for the high-band pod as part of the NGJ effort, which is focused on replacing the ALQ-99 pods for EA-18 Growler electronic warfare aircraft.

Ernest Winston, senior manager of strategy and business development at Raytheon’s space and airborne systems segment, told C4ISRnet that the company’s recent flight testing of the mid-band pod on an airborne platform is a “huge milestone” after a series of lab tests. The pod’s testing on a Growler is scheduled for the second quarter of 2020.

According to Tim Murphy, manager of naval aviation campaigns at Northrop, the team’s demonstration efforts for the low-band pod are slated to continue until spring.

The Navy expects to issue an initial operational capability designation for the mid-band in 2022 and the low-band in 2025.