Officials of the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced last week that they are confirming a $279.4 million contract to Raytheon awarded originally last July to build the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) to enable the EA-18G Growler carrier-based jet to jam enemy radar, communications, and other RF systems. Raytheon rival in the NGJ competition, BAE Systems, formally protested the NGJ award to Raytheon shortly after the Navy announced the NGJ award to Raytheon. The BAE Systems protest held up development of one of the most important U.S. military EW programs for nearly seven months at a time when defense budget cutbacks were idling many of the nation's defense workers. Related: BAE Systems protest could hold up Navy Raytheon NGJ program for three months or more The NGJ is a project that analysts say could be worth billions of dollars in coming years.