Raytheon, in collaboration with the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force, successfully demonstrated the flight of a Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer (MALD-J) equipped with a radio data link. The data link helps expand the weapon’s situational awareness and allows for in-flight targeting adjustments. The exercise, held at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, used the USMC’s recently released Electronic Warfare Services Architecture protocol and a Tactical Targeting Network Technology radio.
MALD, a modular and programmable low-cost flight vehicle, weighs less than 300 pounds and has a range of approximately 500 nautical miles. MALD-J adds a radar-jamming capability to the basic platform. The ADM-160C MALD-J variant used in the demonstration is an autonomous stand-in-jammer that can also operate in decoy mode when selected by the warfighter. This serves to confuse enemy air defenses by duplicating friendly aircraft flight profiles and radar signatures.
Watch a video on MALD’s capabilities below, courtesy of Raytheon:
As part of the demonstration, the MALD-J carried out its assigned radar-jamming mission on the range and then sent situation awareness data to the EW Battle Manager (EWBM). The EWBM used that information to adjust the MALD’s mission while in flight. Various types of MALDs are currently in service, including the MALD-J, which was first delivered to the Air Force in 2012.