The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Leo Davies, has announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Australia and the United States for the development of the Next Generation Jammer.
The Royal Australian Air Force and US Navy have signed a MoU to jointly develop the AN/ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer Mid-band (NGJ-MB) capability.
USN Program executive officer for Tactical Aircraft Programs, Rear Admiral Michael Moran, PMA-234 USN Program Manager Captain Michael Orr, and Air Vice Marshal Cath Roberts attended the MoU signing held in October at US Pacific Fleet Headquarters, Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
The MoU provides the framework for communication, coordination and cooperation between the US Navy and RAAF during the NGJ-MB engineering and manufacturing development phase.
“This is a very important milestone for both nations, one that took four years of communication and collaboration to successfully achieve,” Air Marshal Davies said.
“As this is a rapidly evolving area, we will work in partnership with the US Navy to develop the next generation jamming capability, which will ensure that our aircraft remain at the technological forefront throughout their service life.”
In May the US Airborne Electronic Attack Systems and EA-6B program office (PMA-234) completed a critical design review for the NGJ-MB Increment 1 program.
In February, at the Avalon Internation Airshow at the debut of the RAAF's EA-18G Growler, Defence Minister Marise Payne announced Australia would partner with the US to develop the NGJ for the aircraft.
In 2013, Raytheon won a four-way competition to launch development of the NGJ Increment 1, defeating rival bids by Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and ITT Exelis, which has since been acquired by Harris.