Navy’s Next Generation Jammer reaches critical milestone
The Navy’s next-generation aerial jamming system reached initial operational capability in December, according to the sea service.
Officials announced this week that the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band pod, which will be mounted on EA-18G Growler aircraft, had reached the critical milestone — meaning the design, testing and production of the pod meets the logistical needs of the carrier air wings and Growler squadrons.
Overall, the NGJ — a cooperative program with the Royal Australian Air Force — is the replacement for the decades-old ALQ-99. The program was initially broken up into three separate jamming pods covering various ends of the electromagnetic spectrum based upon the criticality of current and emerging threats: Mid-Band, Low-Band (which L3Harris won in August 2024 after years of protest) and High-Band (for which there hasn’t been any line item in Navy budgets since at least fiscal 2020).
The pods are expected to be significantly more powerful than the ALQ-99, with extended range and the ability to jam multiple targets simultaneously. With the increase in sophistication and range of adversaries’ military systems — especially across the Pacific — such a capability could be critically important for the U.S. military in future conflicts.
“Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band improves our fleet’s warfighting advantage in the electromagnetic spectrum,” Rear Adm. John Lemmon, program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, said in a statement. “This system provides enhanced capabilities to deny, distract and disorient adversaries’ radars, protecting our naval aviators and allowing them to carry out their missions in contested airspace.”
Lt. Cmdr. Michael Bedwell, EA-18G naval flight officer and NGJ-MB deputy integrated product team lead, noted that the Mid-Band pod will boost the fleet’s ability to maintain spectrum dominance, adding that the “era of isolated surface-to-air missile systems, which operate within a non-agile and limited frequency range, is behind us.”
Raytheon, an RTX business, won the initial Mid-Band contract in 2016 with follow-on awards for low-rate initial production in March 2023. The first production pods were delivered to the fleet in July 2023, according to the Navy.
