Raytheon, together with the US Navy, has successfully tested its integrated electronic attack system prototype during flight trials on a Gulfstream business jet at the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, US.
During the test, the next-generation jammer (NGJ) pod prototype successfully flew against representative real-world threats by jamming and disrupting air defence radars, meeting all test objectives.
The system integrated an active electronically scanned array (AESA), an all-digital, open and scalable receiver, and techniques generator, in addition to a self-powered pod installed on the underside of the jet.
While elements of the system were tested in a lab setting, the latest test is the first time the end-to-end system has been powered by the air stream.
Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems business Electronic Warfare Systems vice-president Travis Slocumb said: "Eight months after [the] award of the NGJ programme, we successfully flew the integrated prototype system against representative threat radars.
"This demonstrates the capability and readiness of the core enabling technologies for the next generation of EW systems, and we did it on our first flight."
Furthermore, the test data showed that the integration of jamming techniques, beam agility, array-transmit power and jammer management, were successful against the real-world threat systems.
It was aimed at reducing the risk in the engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase of the NGJ acquisition by the US Navy.
Image: A Gulfstream business jet equipped with Raytheon’s integrated electronic attack system prototype during tests. Photo: courtesy of Raytheon Company.
