Raytheon [RTN] has conducted the first flight test of the prototype integrated electronic attack system of the Navy’s next generation airborne jammer and demonstrated its capability to disable defense radars, the company said.
The core components for the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ), consisting of an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, a digital receiver and self-powered pod, were attached to the bottom of a Gulfstream Jet for the flight testing at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.
“Eight months after award of the NGJ program we successfully flew the integrated prototype system against representative threat radars,” said Travis Slocumb, vice president of Electronic Warfare Systems at Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business. “This demonstrates the capability and readiness of the core enabling technologies for the next generation of EW systems.”
The components used in the NGJ for the testing are not limited to that program, but could also be applied to other airborne jammers and sea-and ground-based electronic attack systems, Raytheon said.
The testing took place against systems representative of enemy radars, Raytheon said.
Raytheon won the $279.4 million contract is for the technology development phase of the NGJ program earlier this year. The jammers are slated to be installed on the Navy’s EA-18G electronic attack aircraft toward the end of this decade.