ELTA North America, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) North America, has been awarded an $11 million contract by the United States Navy to design, develop, and produce advanced airborne communications jammers for integration into fighter aircraft as part of the Navy’s Stand-off Jammer (SOJ) Jets program.
Under the contract, ELTA North America will deliver HF/UHF stand-off jammer systems designed to disrupt adversary communications while enhancing aircraft survivability in increasingly contested electromagnetic environments.
ELTA North America specializes in advanced electronic warfare, radar, and intelligence solutions and serves as the US-based subsidiary of IAI’s ELTA Systems division.
According to a press release, the contract “marks a significant milestone in the company's mission to deliver cutting-edge electronic warfare (EW) solutions to the US defense community.”
Airborne HF/UHF stand‑off jammer systems are a rapidly evolving category of electronic warfare (EW) equipment, designed to disrupt long‑range enemy communications while keeping the host aircraft well outside hostile threat envelopes.
Hostile forces continue to acquire sophisticated technology, and aerial platforms must have appropriate self-protection systems to detect and counter threats.
New techniques emerge as powerful tools to disrupt GPS signals
To increase survivability, platforms must automatically detect and identify threats, respond with the shortest possible latency, and allow the aircrew to continue their mission.
Two techniques known as “spoofing” and “jamming” have emerged as powerful tools to disrupt GPS signals. Military forces have long used these methods in electronic warfare.
Jamming is the more straightforward of the two. It involves overwhelming GPS receivers with noise or interference on the same frequency used by satellites.
Because GPS signals are extremely weak, by the time they reach Earth, even low-powered jamming devices can block them entirely, resulting in a denial-of-service attack: aircraft, ships, cars, or smartphones suddenly lose their ability to determine location or time.
While jamming is relatively easy to detect, when users simply notice their devices stop working, it can still cause chaos.
"The US military is entering an unprecedented time of competitive EW operations," President and CEO of ELTA North America Joe Adams said. He noted that "We are proud to provide innovative solutions that strengthen mission effectiveness, protect warfighters, and ensure dominance across the spectrum.”