Northrop Grumman has been awarded a US$35,200,000 contract to produce and deliver kits required to modify ALQ-218 avionics in support of EA-18G Growler upgrades for the RAAF.
The work will take place in the US and is scheduled for completion by 2022.
The contract is to build Airborne Electronic Attack System Enhancements program AN/ALQ-218 recurring kits, which will be retrofitted into US Navy and RAAF Growlers.
The AN/ALQ-218 installed on the Growler uses a combination of jamming and listening to enable geo-location, parameter measurement, intentional modulation-on-pulse detection and enemy radar threat jamming. It uses a unique combination of short and long baseline interferometer techniques along with a patented passive ranging algorithm to geo-locate ground-based emitters.
Several follow-on lots will then complete the US Navy and RAAF fleet upgrades.