Raytheon Delivered AN/ALQ-249 the Next Generation Jammer and ALQ-99 Airborne EW Framework to US Navy’s F/A-18E Super Hornet

 

As indicated by data distributed by the U.S. DoD on August 10, 2022, the U.S. Naval force's initial AN/ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) creation delegate units showed up at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Patuxent River, Maryland.

The two armada agent test articles, which make up a NGJ-MB shipset, were conveyed to the Airborne Electronic Attack Systems Program Office (PMA-234) case shop where they will be utilized to finish the formative test (DT) program and start functional test (OT) that requires the utilization of functionally delegate equipment and programming. The rest of DT will be directed by VX-23 and VX-31, situated at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, and OT will be led by VX-9 at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.

Until now, NGJ-MB has effectively finished over 300 hours of formative flight testing and has over 5,000 hours of chamber and lab testing utilizing the Engineering Development Models that were planned explicitly for DT. NGJ-MB is important for a bigger framework that will increase and at last supplant the heritage ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System at present utilized on the EA-18G Growler.

Belbin said NGJ-MB's expanded power and ability to focus on different frameworks will be critical upgrades over the ALQ-99.  The U.S. Naval force will get six shipsets from Raytheon Intelligence and Space, the first hardware producer. When the flight test program is finished, the cases will be shipped off the armada related to the primary Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) shipsets for Initial Operational Capability (IOC), which is planned for fall 2023.

 

About the ALQ-99 airborne EW framework:

The ALQ-99 is an airborne coordinated sticking framework planned and fabricated by EDO Corporation. Collector hardware and recieving wires are mounted in a balance tip case while sticking transmitters and exciter gear are situated in under-wing units.

The framework is equipped for catching, consequently handling, and sticking got radio recurrence signals. The framework collectors can likewise be utilized to recognize, distinguish and course track down those signs, giving signs insight (SIGINT) either naturally or physically. The AN/ALQ-99 has a most extreme power result of 10.8 kW in its more established renditions and 6.8 kW in its fresher variants. It utilizes a smash air turbine to supply its own power.