Raytheon Co. has authorized CPI Aerostructures to begin making components for high-tech jamming equipment to be used by aircraft.
The Edgewood-based company said Raytheon approved $2 million to begin work on a contract valued at up to $23.3 million.
CPI said it will begin making components for the system demonstration and test article phase of the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band or NGJ-MB program, used to jaim communications and air-defense systems
Raytheon describes NGJ-MB as a “high-capacity and power airborne electronic attack weapon system for the EA-18G GROWLER.” There are two pods per aircraft.
“It will protect air forces by denying, degrading and disrupting threat radars and communication devices,” Raytheon said of the jammers.
CPI Aero last August said it had been selected to manufacture the pod structure and some other components for Raytheon.
“We are proud to play an important role in getting this critical electronic warfare capability into the hands of the U.S. Navy for testing,” CPI Aero President Douglas McCrosson said.
Raytheon delivered the first NGJ-MB engineering development model pod to the U.S. Navy for ground and aircraft testing in July.
CPI Aero expects to begin delivering the components between August of 2020 and end in the first half of 2021.
McCrosson called this phase “another waypoint on the path towards receiving a decision by the U.S. Navy to proceed with” production.
“We estimate that the total value to CPI Aero from the NGJ-MB production phase could be in excess of an additional $150 million through 2030,” he said.