Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business, has completed Milestone C for the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band, or NGJ-MB. The recommendation from the Milestone Decision Authority is based on the program’s achievements to date and an assessment of readiness to enter Low Rate Initial Production, or LRIP. To date, NGJ-MB has successfully completed over 145 hours of developmental flight testing using Mission Systems and Aeromechanical pods. NGJ-MB has also completed over 3,100 hours of anechoic chamber and lab testing at Naval Air Stations Patuxent River, Maryland, and Point Mugu, California.
The first flight took place August 7, 2020, at the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, meeting all objectives. Future mission systems flight testing will demonstrate weapons system control, power generation, and electromagnetic compatibility between jammer and aircraft, as well as the performance of NGJ-MB’s high-capacity digital waveform generation and active electronically scanned arrays in flight against a variety of targets. Data from these flight tests on the Growler will inform Milestone C – the Navy’s decision to start NGJ-MB production. The flight follows more than 600 hours of ground testing of Engineering Development Model, or EDM, pods.
“We’re well into development testing. It’s time to move towards production. We’re ready to give the Navy and our Australian partners a leap forward towards the electromagnetic spectrum superiority they need. The Milestone C decision drives home the stability and maturity of NGJ-MB. The system is ready for validation and LRIP, and we’re gearing up for the delivery of this critical capability to the fleet.” said Annabel Flores, vice president of Electronic Warfare Systems at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “”
Chamber tests evaluated the system’s performance both on and off the EA-18G Growler aircraft, in addition to jamming techniques and reliability testing. NGJ-MB is the Navy’s advanced electronic attack system that offensively denies, disrupts and degrades enemy technology, including air-defense systems and communications. NGJ-MB uses the latest digital, software-based and Active Electronically Scanned Array technologies. This allows operators to non-kinetically attack significantly more targets and at greater distances.
