Jammers have powerful power and task processing capabilities

Premysler David B. July 05, 2020 10:30

For years, officials have been touting the Navy's "next-generation jammer", which is the main off-area electronic attack platform of the joint force, and its power is at least 10 times that of traditional weapons. Part of the reason for these three Pods (covering the middle, low, and high ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum) is their powerful power, range, and task processing capabilities, which are more effective than traditional ALQ-99 Pods.

The 50-year-old analog ALQ-99 jammer can only be upgraded so much. Ernest Burt Winston, senior manager of Raytheon’s space and airborne system strategy and business development, told the association’s C4ISRNET that the new digital portable jammer program will be able to “do things that were previously unthinkable even with jammers”. Report of the International Symposium on Old Crows held in Washington in late October. Raytheon won the contract for the next-generation jammer mid-band in 2016, while the Navy awarded Northrop Grumman and the L3 low-band technology demonstration contract. Last year’s budget document did provide funding for high-end bands.

As a stand-off jammer, the EA-18 Howler equipped with next-generation jammers will make enemy assets unrecognizable and target friendly assets in the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing it to penetrate enemy airspace. It is achieved by placing radar interference in a specific frequency range, but modern radars and threats are more dynamic than in the past few years, so a new three-band approach is required.

Winston said: "It is very powerful because it must exist because of its wide range of confrontation." The enemy is seeking to disperse the enemy through more advanced radar and electronic sensing functions (called anti-entry/area rejection). Therefore, the US military will jam the jammers at longer distances and interfere with these systems, thereby allowing other strike platforms to penetrate. This requires more functions and more reserves. Tim Murphy, Naval Aviation Campaign Manager at Northrop Grumman, told C4ISRNET: "We now have more power in the pod...it allows you to do more jamming missions, And it can go further, which can bring you more opportunities." At the same meeting.