The U.S. Navy’s first AN/ALQ-249 Subsequent Era Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) manufacturing consultant pods arrived on the Naval Air Warfare Heart Plane Division (NAWCAD) Patuxent River, Maryland, July 7. The 2 fleet consultant check articles, which make up an NGJ-MB shipset, have been delivered to the Airborne Digital Assault Programs Program Workplace (PMA-234) pod store the place they are going to be used to finish the developmental check (DT) program and start operational check (OT) that requires the usage of operationally consultant {hardware} and software program. NGJ-MB is a component of a bigger system that can increase and in the end change the legacy ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System presently used on the EA-18G Growler.
“It’s crucial we ship this game-changing digital warfare functionality to the warfighter as shortly as attainable. Receiving the manufacturing consultant pods permits us to complete the flight check program and guarantee we’ve got a dependable product for the U.S. Navy and our Royal Australian Air Power cooperative companions,” mentioned Capt. Dave Rueter, PMA-234 program supervisor.
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“We’ll check the pods for all the pieces we count on to come across within the fleet. For instance, the ability they generate, the frequency vary they function in, and the consequences we will obtain in opposition to anticipated targets throughout the spectrum. I’ve flown the Growler within the fleet and can finally be going again,” mentioned Lt. Alexander Belbin, AEA mission officer with NAWCAD’s Air Take a look at and Analysis Squadron (VX) 23.
The rest of DT will probably be performed by VX-23 and VX-31, situated on the Naval Air Warfare Heart Weapons Division, China Lake, California, and OT will probably be performed by VX-9 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. To this point, NGJ-MB has efficiently accomplished greater than 300 hours of developmental flight testing and has greater than 5,000 hours of chamber and lab testing utilizing the Engineering Improvement Fashions that have been designed particularly for DT. NGJ-MB’s elevated energy and capability to focus on a number of methods will probably be vital enhancements over the ALQ-99. The U.S. Navy will obtain six shipsets from Raytheon Intelligence & Area, the unique tools producer. As soon as the flight check program is full, the pods will probably be despatched to the fleet along side the primary Low Price Preliminary Manufacturing (LRIP) shipsets for Preliminary Operational Functionality (IOC), which is scheduled for fall 2023.
Raytheon Intelligence & Area’s Subsequent Era Jammer Mid-Band is a sophisticated digital assault system that denies, disrupts and degrades enemy expertise, together with communication instruments and air-defense methods. Constructed with a mixture of agile, energetic electronically scanned arrays and an all-digital again finish, it offers E/A-18 GROWLER pilots an edge within the hotly contested electromagnetic spectrum. To this point, NGJ-MB has efficiently accomplished over 145 hours of developmental flight testing utilizing Mission Programs and Aeromechanical pods. NGJ-MB has additionally accomplished over 3,100 hours of anechoic chamber and lab testing at Naval Air Stations Patuxent River, Maryland, and Level Mugu, California. NGJ-MB is the Navy’s superior digital assault system that offensively denies, disrupts and degrades enemy expertise, together with air-defense methods and communications.
