The Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB), the US Navy's new electronic jamming pod, hit Milestone C on June 28, NAVAIR reported. The approval came from the Navy's Assistant Secretary for Research, Development and Acquisition, Frederick J. Stefany. Now, the NGJ-MB has the green light for the production and deployment phase, proceeding to scaled-down initial production (LRIP).
“This capability is a game changer for our warfighters and the Airborne Electronic Assault (AEA) community”, said Rear iral Shane Gahagan, Executive Program Officer for the Tactical Aircraft Program. “Milestone C is the next critical step in ensuring our team is able to deliver state-of-the-art capabilities and high performance to the fleet.”
Produced by Raytheon, the NGJ-MB is an electronic jamming pod that will address advanced and emerging threats using the latest digital technologies, based on Active Electronic Scanning (AESA) software. It will also provide advanced AEA capabilities to disrupt, deny and degrade enemy air defense and ground communication systems.
The equipment will be used on the EA-18G Growler, an electronic warfare aircraft based on the F/A-18F Super Hornet, in service with the Royal Australian Air Force and the US Navy. Initially, the NGJ-MB will be used with the AN/ALQ-99 tactical jamming pod, and will later replace it. The pod has already successfully completed over 145 hours of developmental flight testing on the Growler and has over 3.100 hours of chamber and lab testing.
“Achieving Milestone C and entering the production phase validates the thousands of hours of testing and planning that our combined US Navy and Royal Australian Air Force team contributed to this evolutionary capability, and I couldn't be more proud”, said Captain Michael Orr, AEA Systems Program Manager (PMA-234), who manages the NGJ-MB program.
