A US Navy test EA 18G Growler photographed with two auxiliary fuel tanks inboard and two NGJ-MBs on its outboard wing stations. Photo: US Navy NAVAIR.
A US$590m (A$920m) contract has been awarded to US defence giant Raytheon (RTX) by the US Navy for 26 AN/ALQ-249(V)1 Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) mid-band (MB) pods, including eight pods for the Royal Australian Air Force.
The pods are ordered in shipsets of two, so the 13 shipsets will form the first major low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of the new system which is designed to substantially enhance the electronic attack mission of the Boeing EA-18G Growler.
Apart from the US Navy, the RAAF is the only other operator of the EA-18G, with 12 examples flown by No 6 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberley near Brisbane. The US Navy operates about 140 Growlers.
The Growler can carry up to five of the current AN/ALQ-99 jammer pods but, despite several upgrades since entering service in the 1970s, the ALQ-99 is no longer capable of defeating modern threats.
The NGJ is being developed in three versions, the (V)1 NGJ-MB, the follow-on (V)2 low-band (LB) pod being developed by L3Harris, and after that, a (V)3 NGJ high-band (HB) system is also planned.
The RAAF is a cooperative development partner with the US Navy on the NGJ-MB, and as such has buy-in to and intimate engineering knowledge of what capabilities are incorporated into the system.
Externally, the NGJ-MB resembles a cylindrical external auxiliary fuel tank. Photos of L3Harris’ NGJ-LB show it has a different configuration, with a pinched waistline, flattened underside, and pointed nose.
There were also plans early in the NGJs development to employ it aboard the F-35 Lightning II, but it is unclear if this plan has progressed.
The NGJ-MB was first noticed deployed with US Navy EA-18Gs aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson for the multinational Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) held in and around Hawaii in mid-2024.
The US Navy has further acknowledged it was deployed to the Middle East area of operations earlier this year aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
It is not known whether the RAAF has introduced any new NGJ-MB pods into service yet.
While details on the NGJ-MB’s capabilities are understandably limited, it reportedly uses digital, software-based architecture with multiple active electronically scanned arrays (AESA) arranged around the pod. Each array can be tuned to jam a broad spectrum of threats or can be focused to concentrate on a specific threat such as a radar or communications node.
Raytheon’s marketing describes it as, “an advanced electronic attack system that denies, disrupts and degrades enemy technology, including communication tools and air-defense systems”. It says the NGJ is capable of, “operating at significantly enhanced ranges”, and “attacking multiple targets simultaneously”.
The US Navy says the NGJ is needed “to meet advanced and emerging electronic warfare (EW) threats and provide continuous expansion of the AEA (airborne electronic attack) mission area.
A US Navy EA-18G with NGJ-MB pods landing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Red Sea. Photo: US Navy.
