Navy Orders Third Lot of Next-Generation Jammer Pods

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ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. Navy has placed an order with Raytheon for the third lot of ALQ-249 Next-Generation Jammer-Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) pods.

The Naval Air Systems Command awarded a $650 million fixed-price incentive (firm target) and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to Raytheon, “for the production and delivery of low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot III Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) Mid-Band (MB), to include 15 NGJ-MB LRIP ship sets (2 pods per ship set), 11 for the Navy and four for the government of Australia,” a March 30 Defense Department contract announcement said.

The contract also includes “associated spares, support equipment, non-recurring engineering and associated data.”

The NGJ-MB is a portion of the overall NGJ program that will replace the legacy ALQ-99 jamming pods on board the EA-18G aircraft. When the NGJ is combined with the EA-18G’s comprehensive suite of radar and communications receivers, electronic warfare officers can detect, analyze and react to current and future threat systems.

Raytheon delivered two production-representative NGJ-MB pods to the Navy’s Airborne Electronic Attack Systems Program Office (PMA-234) pod shop in July 2022 where they were used for testing. 

Initial operational capability of the NGJ-MB was scheduled for fall 2023, according to information obtained in 2022.  