The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded L3 Technologies [LLL] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] contracts worth over $35 million each to demonstrate and test technologies that may provide a solution for the low band part of the Next Generation jammer program.
NAVAIR awarded the contracts on Thursday and come after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Monday denied a summer protest by Raytheon [RTN], which is building the mid-band pod of the Next Generation Jammer.
GAO did not release a full explanation for its decision by publication time on Friday.
In 2016, Raytheon won a $1 billion contract for the design, manufacture, demonstration, and testing of the mid-band section of the program (Defense Daily, April 15, 2016).
NAVAIR is splitting the replacement for the legacy ALQ-99 system on EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft into three award sections: low, mid and high bands.
The award noted offerors are to test equipment that could “potentially provide a solution for an airborne wideband low radio frequency band jamming application in support of the Next Generation Jammer Low Band (Increment 2) program.”
The low band section is the second of three increments in the jammer program.
L3 was awarded $35.8 million while Northrop Grumman won $35.2 million, with work by both companies expected to be finished by June 2020. The Navy obligated $14.7 million in FY ’18 research, development, test and evaluation funds to both companies and all of that will expire at the end of this fiscal year.
The competition has several offerors including L3, a team of Northrop Grumman and the Harris Corp. [HRS], Raytheon, and a Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Cobham team.
Northrop Grumman said its offer was chosen based on technical merit and potential maturity in accomplishing the low-band mission.
“Northrop Grumman will deliver a mature, low-risk and exceedingly capable solution for Next Generation Jammer Low Band that outpaces evolving threats and enables the Navy’s speed-to-fleet path,” Thomas Jones, company vice president and general manager for airborne C4ISR systems, said in a statement.
“Our NGJ-LB pod provides multi-mission capability for electromagnetic maneuver warfare. We stand ready to demonstrate advancements in this mission area and deliver ahead of schedule,” Jones added.