The jammer variant of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy cleared Air Force operational testing, the last major hurdle before the service may declare it ready for use in combat, annou?nced manufacturer Raytheon. “MALD-J’s unique capabilities have been proven in 42 successful flight tests during the last two years and brought us closer to full-rate production,” said Mike Jarrett, Raytheon’s vice president of air warfare systems, in the company’s April 14 release. The Air Force recently tasked Raytheon to build 250 MALD-Js during the weapon’s eighth production lot. The company began delivering the jammer variant to the Air Force in 2012. MALD-J adds radar-jamming capability to the basic MALD platform, which is designed to confuse enemy air defenses by duplicating the flight profiles and radar signatures of friendly aircraft. MALD is already available for combat. It is integrated on the B-52 and the F-16.?
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…
