L3Harris has received an $876.4 million modification to continue developing the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Jammer Low Band system.

The cost-plus-incentive-fee, undefinitized modification adds non-recurring tooling and equipment, system demonstration test article pods; cybersecurity and system security development; and product, logistics, test and software support requirements to the contract’s scope, the Department of War said Wednesday.

Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. The modification was not competitively procured, and work is expected to finish in fiscal 2031.

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How Is the L3Harris Contract Modification Funded?

Fiscal 2026 Navy research, development, test and evaluation funds provide $3.7 million at the time of award. Royal Australian Air Force cooperative funds account for $23 million.

Salt Lake City, Utah, carries 43 percent of the work. Other sites include Hollywood, Alabama; Lansdale, Pennsylvania; Clifton, New Jersey; Boulder, Colorado; Goleta and Carlsbad, California; Edgewood and Long Island, New York; Waco, Texas; Parsippany, New Jersey; and locations in Australia.

What Is the Next Generation Jammer Low Band?

The Next Generation Jammer Low Band system is designed to replace the ALQ-99 tactical jamming capability aboard the Navy’s EA-18G Growler, using software-based arrays to counter air and ground threats in the low-frequency spectrum.

The Navy split the Next Generation Jammer program into three pods, each covering a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Raytheon won the mid-band award in 2016. The high-band segment has gone unfunded since at least fiscal 2020, according to DefenseScoop.

The low-band system was scheduled to reach early operational capability in 2029.

What Came Before the L3Harris Contract Modification?

L3Harris won the underlying $587 million engineering and manufacturing development contract in August 2024, covering design, production and delivery of test articles and fleet prototypes. That work included 11 pod simulators, eight operational prototype pods, four jettison mass model pods, two captive mass models, two mission system prototypes and two technique development systems.

The Navy received two offers for that award, which followed litigation that stalled the program for years. L3Harris filed suit in the Court of Federal Claims in September 2021 after the Government Accountability Office sided with Northrop Grumman, whose protest centered on a former Navy employee. That person allegedly worked on the program’s specifications while in employment talks with L3Harris, and Northrop argued the service had not accounted for the conflict, DefenseScoop reported. The Navy reopened bids and awarded the contract in 2024.

An earlier $496 million engineering and manufacturing development award to build aircraft-based external jamming system pods for the Navy went to L3Harris in December 2020.

From Kristen Smith, Sept. 24, 2026