The U.S. Air Force and Raytheon Company recently completed a four-year development program of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy-Jammer (MALD®-J) under budget.
As part of the development program, the MALD and MALD-J flew a total of 30 successful engineering and operational flight tests with a perfect 30-for-30 record. The MALD-J's flight test record was 15-for-15 of that total.
"The MALD program continues to surpass expectations in performance and capability," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems' Air Warfare Systems. "The MALD-J provides significant improvement in strike survivability and tactical electronic attack, giving our warfighters a decisive edge."
MALD is a state-of-the-art, low-cost flight vehicle that is modular, air-launched, autonomous and programmable. It weighs less than 300 pounds and has a range of approximately 500 nautical miles. MALD protects aircraft and their crews by duplicating the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft. MALD-J adds radar-jamming capability to the basic MALD platform.
"The commitment and performance of the Raytheon and U.S. Air Force team, coupled with the science and engineering development in electronic attack for the MALD vehicle, has paid big dividends for our warfighter. Finishing under budget in these austere times was especially rewarding," said Chris Daily, Raytheon Missile Systems' MALD-J program manager.
MALD-J offers a cost effective and unique capability in the complex electronic warfare (EW) environment and is now ideally placed as the force multiplier of choice for future U.S. and allied EW operations.
About MALD and MALD-J
- MALD confuses enemy air defenses by duplicating friendly aircraft flight profiles and radar signatures.
- MALD-J maintains all capabilities of MALD and adds jamming capabilities.
- Raytheon began delivering MALD-J in the fall of 2012.