Airborne Deployed Decoys Can Drive The Bad Guys Crazy And Protect The Good Guys

If you’re on the attack in any aircraft that is less than 100 percent stealth, avoiding being targeted by the enemy is, to say the least, a high priority. Destroying the enemy’s defense capabilities before you get there is a great idea but, when that’s not possible, an alternative is to confuse the enemy’s targeting capabilities. This is where the U.S. Air Force's Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) comes into play.

MALD is a state-of-the-art, low-cost flight vehicle that is modular, air-launched 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. MALD confuses enemy air defenses by duplicating friendly aircraft flight profiles and radar signatures.

Now, the Raytheon Company, in partnership with Fokker and Dallara, has developed a lower-cost carbon fiber airframe for the U.S. Air Force's MALD by applying robotics and formula car racing technologies. The three companies reduced airframe production costs by 25 percent.
 
"MALD is a cost-efficient, modular system that can protect manned aircraft from the need to engage threats and make stand-off munitions even more lethal," said Scott Muse, Raytheon's MALD programs director. "Driving affordability is a key element of customer success. Through the partnership with Fokker, Dallara and the U.S. Air Force, we delivered MALD's capabilities at a lower price."

Raytheon Missile Systems partnered with industry leaders, using robotics and commercial racing car technologies to cut the cost of defense aerospace applications. Fokker Technologies, which develops and produces advanced structures and electrical systems for aerospace and defense, helped to adapt robots to wind the carbon fiber fuselage, rather than rely on the conventional, hand-built approach. Dallara, which for 40 years has produced some of the fastest, safest racing cars in the world, applied the lightweight, very strong structural technologies used in Indy car racing to airframe accessories, including covers and air inlets.

(Image provided by Raytheon)

FMI: www.raytheon.com