The Navy has awarded contracts to BAE Systems and Raytheon in October for the development and demonstration a next-generation, dual band towed decoy. The contracts, valued at $36.7 million and $33 million respectively, will help determine the best fit to meet F/A-18E/F decoy requirements through a 27-month development and demonstration phase.

The Advanced Tactical Aircraft Protection Systems Program (PMA-272) based in Patuxent River will carry out testing and demonstrations of the next-generation dual band towed decoy capability on F/A-18E/F.