On Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced it has awarded Raytheon (RTN) a $279.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to support the "Technology Development" phase of the U.S. Navy's Next Generation Jammer, or NGJ, program.
The Pentagon intends NGJ to replace Exelis' (NYSE: XLS) aging ALQ-99 tactical jamming system, currently used aboard EA-18G (and also EA-6B) electronic warfare aircraft. Raytheon's task will be to develop a cost-effective electronic attack system "that will provide significantly improved airborne electronic attack capabilities against advanced threats through enhanced agility and precision within jamming assignments, increased interoperability, and expanded broadband capability for greater threat coverage against a wide variety of radio frequency emitters." In other words, the Pentagon wants NGJ to become exactly what its name implies: the next generation of electronic warfare jamming equipment.
Raytheon will be working on the development phase of the project through May 2015.
