The Air Force has authorized Raytheon [RTN] to begin low-rate initial-production for the variant of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) that will be equipped with radar-jamming capability, the company said yesterday.
The Air Force also signed off on a $5 million contract option to convert the latest production of the MALD baseline to the jammer variant (MALD-J), the company said.
MALD, which looks much like a missile, can be fired from aircraft and is designed to mimic the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft.
“MALD-J will save the lives of aviators because commanders will be able to use MALD-J to conduct dangerous stand-in jamming missions instead of using manned aircraft to do the job,” Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems’ Air Warfare Systems product line, said.