L3Harris Technologies on October 19, 2026 announced an $876,440,942 undefinitized contract modification from the US Navy for the next engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the Next Generation Jammer Low Band (NGJ-LB), the low-frequency electronic attack pod destined for the EA-18G Growler. The company said the award supports an accelerated program timeline, in line with the Department of War’s priority of fielding capability faster.
The modification first appeared in the Department of War’s contract announcements on September 23, 2026; the company release adds program context rather than new terms. It arrives two years after the Navy re-awarded the NGJ-LB EMD contract to L3Harris on August 26, 2024, a five-year, $587.4 million deal that closed a protest cycle dating to the original December 2020 selection. Protests by losing bidder Northrop Grumman, upheld by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), forced the Navy to reopen the competition and cost the program close to four years. The new modification alone exceeds the entire 2024 EMD baseline.
Next Generation Jammer Low Band Contract Scope and Funding
The cost-plus-incentive-fee modification, designated P00021 to contract N0001924C0061, adds scope in four areas: non-recurring tooling and equipment with associated labor; delivery of system demonstration test article pods; additional cybersecurity and system security development; and product, logistics, test and evaluation, and software support to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
Because the action is undefinitized, L3Harris can begin work before final price terms are negotiated, and obligations at award are small: $3.65 million in fiscal 2026 Navy research, development, test and evaluation funds and $23.04 million in Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) cooperative funds. Australia’s larger up-front share reflects NGJ-LB’s status as a joint cooperative program between the US Department of War and the Australian Department of Defence. The RAAF flies its own Growler fleet and extended its mid-band partnership to the low-band pod in July 2020.
Work is spread across more than ten sites. Salt Lake City carries 43%, followed by Hollywood, Alabama (14.8%), Lansdale, Pennsylvania (8.1%), Clifton, New Jersey (8%) and Boulder, Colorado (7.5%), with 3.4% performed in Australia. Completion is expected in fiscal 2031. The supplier base already includes CPI Aerostructures for pod structures, Honeywell Aerospace at Lansdale, and Marotta Controls for turbine speed control on the pod’s ram-air turbine power-generation assembly.
The number of demonstration pods funded under this modification has not been disclosed. The 2024 baseline called for eight operational prototype pods plus test assets for airworthiness and design verification.
How NGJ-LB Extends Growler Stand-Off Range Against Low-Band Radars
NGJ-LB is one of three planned increments of the Next Generation Jammer family, which will augment and eventually replace the AN/ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System, a pod family that entered service on the EA-6B Prowler in the 1970s. Raytheon’s AN/ALQ-249(V)1 Next Generation Jammer Mid Band already flies with the fleet and covers roughly 2 to 6 GHz. Publicly available specifications place the low-band pod below 2 GHz, with open-source estimates of its lower bound ranging from 100 MHz to 500 MHz. The high-band increment has had no Navy budget line since at least fiscal 2020.
Like the mid-band pod, NGJ-LB relies on active electronically scanned array (AESA) apertures and a software-defined, modular open-system architecture intended to simplify maintenance and technology insertion. A ram-air turbine powers the pod, as on the ALQ-99. L3Harris says high equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) and tailored waveforms increase the number of targets crews can engage simultaneously while reducing cockpit workload.
The frequency band drives the operational case. VHF and UHF early-warning and acquisition radars, such as Russia’s Nebo-M family and China’s JY-27A, exploit wavelengths at which stealth shaping is less effective, and they cue long-range surface-to-air missile systems. Degrading them from outside threat rings protects fourth-generation strike packages and F-35s alike. “This program enhances the ability to counter adversaries operating in lower-frequency bands,” said Chris Aebli, President, Communications & Spectrum Dominance at L3Harris, adding that the company is “moving fast” to let aviators counter those threats from safer, extended distances.
Analysis: A modification larger than the original EMD award suggests the Navy is buying down production risk now, funding tooling, demonstration hardware and cyber hardening ahead of a production decision rather than after it. That reflects the cost of the lost protest years. The Growler remains the only dedicated US tactical airborne electronic attack aircraft, and until NGJ-LB fields, its low-band coverage depends on ALQ-99 transmitters. L3Harris says the legacy pods still play an important role in fleet operations, but its own NGJ-LB product page describes the Growler’s current jamming system as increasingly challenged by improving adversary radars and hampered by persistent sustainment issues. Australia’s heavier initial obligation also shows allied funding directly underwriting a US capability timeline.
Key unknowns remain. Neither the Navy nor L3Harris has published a schedule matching the accelerated timeline; the last public target, early operational capability in 2029, predates this award. Contract definitization, the quantity and delivery dates of the demonstration pods, and the timing of a low-rate initial production decision are the next markers to watch, along with whether future budget requests revive a high-band increment.