TUCSON, March 23 (UPI) -- Raytheon has delivered the first of its Miniature Air Launched Decoy vehicles to the U.S. Air Force.
The Air Force said it recently accepted a delivery of Raytheon's new MALD system. The MALD technology, a low-cost flight vehicle, "protects aircrews and their aircraft by duplicating the combat flight profiles and signatures of United States and allied aircraft," the release said.
The delivery marked the first of Raytheon's MALD low-rate initial production units, keeping the program on schedule to meet the Air Force's March 2010 required asset availability date.
"The war fighter now has an incredible new capability thanks to the hard work of hundreds of Raytheon employees, suppliers, dedicated Air Force civil servants, uniformed service members and support personnel," Ken Watson, Air Force MALD program manager, said in a statement.
"MALD will work in concert with other electronic-warfare assets as part of a system of systems to shape the electronic-warfare battle space."
