AN/ALQ-218 Tactical Jamming Receiver
Force Protection: Real-time situational awareness for tactical cueing of jammers/onboard sensors
Northrop Grumman's ALQ-218 fully satisfies the unique requirement for a tactical jamming receiver system. In battle, the ALQ-218 tactical jamming receiver is the first system "on the scene" to detect the enemy. The ALQ-218 provides the initial verification for the correlation between the planned Electronic Order of Battle (EOB) and the actual "on the scene" EOB. The ALQ-218 enables aircrews and/or commanders to make quicker and more intelligent decisions to ensure the maximum protection of the friendly forces.
The ALQ-218 successfully meets the required probability of detection and response time necessary to provide situational awareness for reactive (surgical) jamming. High-powered jammer energy can be concentrated on specific threats and as a result of the jamming, the ALQ-218 follows the changing enemy radar tactics.
The Navy's Choice for EA-18
The ALQ-218 receiver is the U.S. Navy's choice for the new EA-18 Advanced Electronic Attack aircraft, a derivative of the F/A-18F Super Hornet, currently in production. The EA-18 uses virtually the same EW suite developed by Northrop Grumman for ICAP III, with the addition of an advanced digital receiver group performing the auxiliary receiver functions.
The ALQ-218 receiver electronics has been repackaged and is installed in the EA-18's nose gun-bay, with the antennas mounted on wingtip pods. Northrop Grumman is currently producing ALQ-218 shipsets to support both the EA-6B and EA-18 fleets.
The ALQ-218 has a spiral development improvement roadmap that allows for installation on any air, sea, or land based platform. It is currently being installed on the P-8A Poseidon ASW/ASUW aircraft.
Geolocation/Target-cueing Capability
The ALQ-218 utilizes a unique combination of short, medium and long baseline interferometer techniques with a patented passive ranging algorithm to provide geolocation of emitters for cueing jammers and other onboard sensors such as electro-optical/infrared sensors and radar.
Unique, Demonstrated "Look Through" Capability
The ALQ-218 is the world's only tactical jamming receiver system with proven "look-through" software to permit periodic surveillance of the threat environment while jamming is in progress. The "look-through" capability allows the ALQ-218 receiver system to operate in close proximity to onboard high power jammers.
The Heart of EA-6B ICAP III
Often described as the "Heart of ICAP III," the ALQ-218 provides the upgraded Prowler with the ability to precisely identify and pinpoint the location of enemy radar sites for a more effective use of HARM missiles.
The EA-6B ICAP III equipped Prowler made its first flight in 2001 and entered production in the Fall of 2003.
» Download the ALQ-218 datasheet