McLEAN, Va., 30 June 2009. U.S. Navy officials are buying an additional 548 vehicle-mounted electronic warfare systems designed to jam and neutralize radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under terms of a $36.3 million contract awarded Friday to the ITT Defense Electronics & Services segment in McLean, Va.

The vehicle-mounted IED countermeasures system is called the Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare system -- better known as JCREW 2.1 -- which jam signals from radio-controlled IEDs to prevent them from exploding.

This contract is for the urgent procurement and support of CREW systems each of the military services operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Navy manages the joint CREW program for Office of the Secretary of Defense's Joint IED Defeat Organization.

ITT will do the work at its factory in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and should be finished by December. Awarding the contract was the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.