Raytheon has delivered about 40 Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammers to the Air Force since the beginning of September, Joe Staton, the company’s MALD growth manager, told the Daily Report. The MALD-J is the second variant of MALD, following the baseline decoy. MALD-J adds a radar-jamming capability to the baseline decoy, which is designed to duplicate the combat flight profiles of US and allied aircraft to fool enemy air defenses and help protect aircrews from anti-aircraft missiles. The Air Force intends to buy about 3,000 of the decoys and jammers. So far, Raytheon has been contracted to deliver about 600, said Staton in a Sept. 10 interview. Click here to read the full report.
When the Air Force sets a new program baseline for the B-52 re-engining this fall, there will be “some” cost increase, because the project wasn't previously fully funded, and the Air Force has a better handle on actual supplier costs and knowledge from ground testing, program officials said.