Raytheon’s Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer recently flew with a new datalink that permits in-flight retargeting and maneuver as part of a joint Air Force-Marine Corps demonstration, the company announced. “This flight test shows MALD-J’s ability to integrate new technology that will provide the warfighter more capabilities on the battlefield,” company vice president for air warfare systems Mike Jarrett said in a Dec. 9 release. A mothership aircraft captive-carried MALD-J during the recent test conducted as part of the service’s Weapons and Tactics Instructor exercise at MCAS Yuma, Ariz., Raytheon stated. During the exercise, MALD-J flew a radar-jamming sortie while simultaneously transmitting “situational awareness data” to an electronic warfare battle manager, who was then able to tweak the jammer’s mission assignment en-route. The MALD jammer variant is currently integrated on USAF’s B-52 and F-16 fleets.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
