Raytheon Intelligence & Space has been awarded a US$171.6m contract for Low-Rate Initial Production Lot I of the US Navy's Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB) system.

The NGJ-MB is the US Navy's advanced electronic attack system that denies disrupts and degrades enemy technology, including air-defence systems and communications, using digital, software-based and Active Electronically Scanned Array technologies.

"With its power and ability to jam multiple radars simultaneously, NGJ-MB will fundamentally change the way the [US Navy] conducts airborne electronic attack," said Annabel Flores, vice president of Electronic Warfare Systems for Raytheon Intelligence & Space.

"NGJ-MB will increase the survivability and lethality of fourth-and fifth-generation fighters, making naval aviation that much more effective,’ Flores added.

The award, published on July 8, follows the recent Milestone C completion and advances the programme into the production and deployment phase.

The NGJ-MB has completed more than 145 hours of developmental flight-testing using mission systems and aeromechanical systems, and over 3,100 hours of anechoic chamber and lab testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, and Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California.