Raytheon to help Navy evaluate jammer technology

Raytheon Co. was awarded a $5.5 million contract to assist the Navy with a jammer technology study program.

The award calls for Raytheon to join the Next Generation Jammer program, which will support the Navy’s airborne electronic attack requirements by developing innovative ways of jamming current and future threats with the EA-18G aircraft as the target platform.

Boeing Co., which built the aircraft and is currently delivering it to the Navy, said the EA-18G will be the cornerstone of the naval airborne electronic attack mission. The aircraft will counter enemy air defenses using both reactive and pre-emptive jamming techniques, Boeing officials said.

Under the contract, Raytheon will use its combination of multibeam jamming techniques and antenna array technology to evaluate next-generation jamming solutions.

Effective airborne electronic attacks require electromagnetic spectrum dominance in the air and on the ground, said Roy Azevedo, deputy vice president of Raytheon’s Tactical Airborne Systems mission area.

“This study will provide a vital foundation for the development of a more robust open-architecture jammer with greater spectral precision, power, reactive speed and directivity,” he said. “The expected improvements in availability and lower life-cycle costs will ensure a viable future capability for naval electronic warfare.”

Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems division at its Tactical Airborne Systems facility in Goleta, Calif., is leading the company’s participation in the study.

Raytheon, of Waltham, Mass., ranks No. 4 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.