The Navy and its partners entered the mid 2020s with a clear migration plan off the AN/ALQ-99 family toward a modular, software driven Next Generation Jammer suite. Program activity through 2024 shows two things that will shape RFPs released in 2026. First, the mid band effort has moved from technology maturation into low rate production and operational assessment phases. Second, the low band increment restarted formal engineering and manufacturing development after a recompete in 2023 and was reawarded in 2024, reestablishing a multi-year development and prototype delivery timeline.

If you are preparing to bid on or staff for airborne jammer RFPs in 2026 you need to treat those solicitations as continuation and expansion events rather than greenfield competitions. Expect 2026 RFPs to be dominated by three classes of work:

  • Follow on production buyouts and sustainment for Mid Band LRIP to FRP transition. The program office has already taken LRIP steps and signaled a path to production decisions. That makes 2026 the logical year for larger production task orders or full rate production solicitations tied to prior low rate sets.
  • EMD to production transition actions for Low Band prototypes. After the 2024 award to L3Harris the NGJ Low Band effort is in the EMD phase with prototype deliveries and airworthiness work planned. Expect 2026 RFP language that focuses on maturing prototypes into production representative pods, logistics support plans, and production capability demonstrations.
  • Capability insertion, avionics integration, and host aircraft interface contracts. The NGJ approach relies on open systems and tight host integration, so separate RFPs or task orders covering A-kit/pylon integration, mission system upgrades, and maintenance planning are probable. Program offices commonly split these scopes to accelerate fielding while suppliers finish pod maturation.

What the RFPs will emphasize: technical and contracting front lines

  • Software defined waveforms and upgradeability. Bid packages will require demonstrated ability to field software updates rapidly, to accept third party waveforms, and to show secure software build and update pipelines. Expect specific language on modular firmware, continuous integration and delivery, and plans for rapid technique upload. This is now standard NGJ architecture practice and will be a pass fail element in 2026 solicitations.

  • Open mission system interfaces and common data models. Interfaces to the host aircraft mission computer and to offboard networks will be examined closely. Proposals that can demonstrate adherence to open architecture principles, or show prior successful integrations with the EA-18G mission stack, will have an advantage.

  • Reliability, maintainability, and life cycle cost. One of the key drivers for replacing the ALQ-99 was poor sustainment posture. RFPs will place heavy weight on test data that shows pod mean time between failure, modular line replaceable unit architectures, and depot sustainment concepts that reduce shipboard logistics burden.

  • International cooperation and exportability. Australia is a formal partner on NGJ increments. Expect clauses that account for cooperative production, data sharing, and allied sustainment support. Teams that include Australian industry partners or have demonstrated allied sustainment plans will score favorably.

  • Electromagnetic and cyber resilience. RFPs in 2026 will demand evidence of hardened designs, electromagnetic compatibility testing, and secure communications for mission updates. Proposals should include cyber hardening plans for pod software, authenticated update mechanisms, and supply chain risk mitigation.

Actionable checklist for bidders and primes (practical, tactical items)

1) Freeze your software baseline and show controlled CI/CD processes. Provide a roadmap for fielding updates under configuration control, including rollback and authenticated delivery. This will be required evidence in 2026.

2) Prepare an open systems compliance matrix. Map your interfaces to the host aircraft, include data models, API descriptions, and timing budgets. Show prior integration test results or simulator integration where full flight test data is not yet available.

3) Build a sustainment offer around LRU modularity and low manning. Be explicit: mean time to repair, parts lists, training syllabi, field maintenance kits, and predicted spares consumption per flight hour. Contract evaluators will treat lifecycle cost as a discriminant.

4) Document coalition support and export-aware design choices. Include export control compliance plans and partner production options for Australia or other allies. Joint program history will influence award decisions.

5) Validate environmental and carrier suitability early. If you plan to offer pods for carrier operations, provide wind tunnel, bird strike, salt fog, and shipboard stowage tests or credible schedules to complete them before key flight trials.

Program office behavior to expect

  • Fragmented but linked RFPs. Program offices will continue the pattern of separate solicitations for pod production, host-aircraft interfaces, and sustainment. Bid teams should be ready to pursue prime, subcontract, or teaming roles across these tracks.

  • Incremental acceptance criteria. Expect discrete milestone gates: airworthiness demonstration, flight test objectives, operational assessment, and then production yardsticks. RFP evaluation criteria will map directly to those gates.

  • Protest risk and recompetition. The NGJ-LB history shows that protests and recompetes can reshape timelines. Teams must be prepared to respond quickly to amended RFPs, protest outcomes, and revised acquisition strategies. Contract schedules will likely include options and stop gap requirements to minimize capability gaps.

Technical trends that will show up in 2026 solicitations

  • Greater reliance on AESA transmitters and digital beam forming. Expect requirements that call out electronically steered arrays and digital nulling capabilities.

  • Emphasis on waveform agility and cognitive electronic attack research transition. RFPs may include incentive language for demonstration of ML assisted emitter classification or adaptive waveform selection in constrained environments.

  • Integration with offboard effects. RFPs will increasingly ask for systems that can hand off targeting to loiter decoys, stand off jammers, or cooperative unmanned platforms, so design for data link interoperability now.

Final note for industry teams and program managers

Treat 2026 as a year of transition and expansion, not a fresh start. The NGJ family is moving from technology maturation into prototype maturation and production scale up. RFPs will reward proven software processes, production readiness, logistics affordability, and allied cooperation plans. If you want to be competitive in 2026, start demonstrating those attributes today and document them in measurable ways for proposal evaluators.