Raytheon, U.S. Air Force conduct operational flight tests of MALD-J Decoy jammer

TUCSON, Ariz., 27 Sept. 2012.U.S. Air Force and Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) engineers began operational testing of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer (MALD-J), which adds radar-jamming capability to the modular, air-launched, and programmable MALD flight vehicle platform.

The MALD-J team logged four successful flights in four attempts, which followed the developmental test phase. More MALD-J flight tests are scheduled for the remainder of the year. On 6 Sept. 2012, Raytheon Missile Systems delivered the first MALD-J to the U.S. Air Force during a ceremony at the company's Tucson facility.

MALD weighs less than 300 pounds, enjoys a range of roughly 500 nautical miles, and protects aircraft and their crews by duplicating the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft.

"MALD saves lives by saturating enemy integrated air defense systems, causing them to pursue the wrong target instead of attacking our aircraft," explains Harry Schulte, Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president of Air Warfare Systems. "With MALD-J, we are building on this combat-proven decoy to provide the warfighter with even more capability."

During 2012 test firings, MALD and MALD-J achieved 13 successful flight tests in 13 attempts.