Honeywell to upgrade Navy airborne electronic warfare (EW) jammer with gallium nitride (GaN) technology
PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. – U.S. Navy airborne electronic warfare (EW) experts are asking Honeywell Aerospace for Low-Band Consolidation (LBC) transmitter modifications for the AN/ALQ-99 EW system aboard the carrier-based EA-18G Growler electronic attack jet.
Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $29.9 million order to Honeywell (formerly CAES) for six 6 LBC modifications for the Navy and 16 LBC modifications for Australia in support of EA-18G Growler upgrades.
The ALQ-99 is an airborne integrated EW jammer designed and manufactured by EDO Corp., which since has been consolidated into L3Harris Technologies. Honeywell Aerospace acquired CAES -- formerly known as Cobham Advanced Electronics Solutions -- last September for $1.9 billion.
Mitigating obsolescence
Honeywell is building EW transmitters with gallium nitride (GaN) technology for the ALQ-99, as well as an improved universal exciter upgrade (iUEU) that solves obsolescence problems with application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) prototypes.
The ALQ-99 receiver and antennas are mounted in a fin-tip pod on the EA-18G, while jamming transmitters and exciter equipment are located in under-wing pods.
The system is designed to intercept, automatically process, and jam enemy RF signals from radio communications and radar. It also can detect, identify, and locate radio waves in a signals intelligence (SIGINT) mode.
Jamming enemy RF signals
The ALQ-99's low-band transmitter has replaced the ALQ-99's tactical jamming system in EW bands 1, 2, and 3, ranging from 20 MHz to 1 GHz. Building transmitters with GaN technology will enable the transmitters to include band 4, which operates from 1 to 3 GHz, and to consolidate several transmitters into one transmitter.
Honeywell also is mitigating obsolescence within the ALQ-99's transmitters, and updating the technology to use GaN materials for semiconductor power devices. The goal is not to increase the system's power output, but instead to address diminishing manufacturing sources, material shortages, and mitigate band 4 hardware inventory shortages.
On this order, Honeywell will do the work in Lansdale, Philadelphia, and Lancaster, Pa.; Patterson and Purchase, N.Y.; Woburn and Haverhill, Mass; Ventura, Calif.; and Shelton, Conn., and should be finished by May 2027.
For more information contact Honeywell Aerospace online at https://aerospace.honeywell.com, or Naval Air Systems Command at www.navair.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
