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Air Force is anticipating that the jammer variant of its Miniature Air Launched Decoy will receive the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s blessing this summer to enter production, according to recently released budget documents accompanying the service’s Fiscal 2012 spending proposal. Accordingly, Air Force officials have requested funding for MALD-J production in the service’s Fiscal 2012 budget request, in addition to continued funding to buy more of the baseline MALD, states USAF’s newly unveiled 2011 posture statement (caution, large-sized file). The service is also requesting funding next fiscal year for the development of the MALD-J increment II system. MALD is designed to fool enemy air defenses by replicating the flight signatures of various combat aircraft. The decoy has already entered the Air Force’s inventory. The jammer configuration is designed to disrupt enemy air defense radar. Raytheon is the supplier. (For background on MALD, read Time to Be Fooled from the Daily Report archives)
When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Air Force Gen. Dan Caine described the 150 aircraft used in Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, he referenced many by name, including the F-35 and F-22 fighters and B-1 bomber. Not specified, however, were “remotely piloted drones,” among them a secretive aircraft spotted and photographed returning to Puerto…
