Raytheon [RTN] is negotiating with the Air Force to supply the service with a fifth production lot of its Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) and hopes to be under contract by August, according to a company program manager.
Jeffrey White, MALD business development manager for Raytheon, told Defense Daily in a phone interview yesterday the company is currently under contract for a fourth production lot, which consists of the MALD’s radar jammer variant, MALD-J, and that the company is producing 10 MALD-Js per week. He also said Raytheon is six-for-six on MALD and MALD-J test shots.
White said he couldn’t specify how many MALDs the company was negotiating to supply the service with, nor how much it the potential cost could range.
White said MALD is currently integrated on Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] F-16 and Boeing’s [BA] B-52 and is capable of being integrated on any plane with a 14-inch lug capability. Smith said Raytheon also developed a system to eject MALDs out the back of cargo aircraft called MALD Cargo Aircraft Launch System (MCALS).
“We can put 24 MALDs in a C-130, 192 MALDs in a C-17,” White said. “If you had a high threat target, you could now send a swarm of MALDs…to disrupt the enemy’s command and control systems.”
Lockheed Martin develops the C-130 and Boeing develops the C-17.
The Government Accountability Office was critical of the MALD program in a recent report, saying it has not progressed as smoothly as it should due to “lower-than-desired” levels of knowledge. GAO said Air Force officials’ fear of a potentially costly break in production, coupled with testing failures, have hampered MALD’s progress (Defense Daily, April 3).
White said, although the program has had challenges, it is moving along with no issues.
“I can’t disavow we haven’t had issues, but we’re still moving along smartly,” White said.
MALD is a missile-like decoy which emulates allied and United States radar signatures to enemy integrated air defense systems, White said. MALD-J is also capable of being a jammer, as well as a decoy, and is programmable by the warfighter on the ground, he said.