Posted by John McHaleTUCSON, Ariz., 8 May 2010. The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) a $48.9 million contract to begin engineering, manufacturing, and design (EMD) of its Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) stand-in jammer variant. MALD is a state-of-the-art, low-cost, decoy flight vehicle that is modular, air-launched, and programmable. It weighs less than 300 pounds and has a range of approximately 500 nautical miles (about 575 statute miles). The MALD-J adds radar-jamming capability to the basic MALD platform without altering the decoy's outer mold line. "In executing the MALD-J program, Raytheon has been ahead of schedule and under budget for 39 months in a row, and we have every reason to expect the same performance during EMD," says Ken Watson, the U.S. Air Force's MALD program manager. "The success of this program is crucial because it will reduce or eliminate the need for manned stand-in jamming aircraft." "During EMD, Raytheon will put MALD-J through an aggressive series of free-flight and captive-carry tests," says Scott Muse, Raytheon's MALD program director. "This is a critical capability for the warfighter, and we intend to meet the required asset available date of 2012."
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