BASILDON, England, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Defense electronics company Selex ES has introduced a self-contained Digital RF Memory jammer for fighter aircraft to protect against surface-to-air missiles.
The decoy system is called BriteCloud, and the company said Saab of Sweden plans to offer it as an electronic warfare enhancement option for its Gripen aircraft.
"Having assessed its capability, BriteCloud will increase the survivability of Gripen, further enhancing the fighter's attractiveness to customers." said Pete Forrest, vice president of marketing and sales for electronic warfare at Selex ES. "We're working with Saab towards flight tests of the BriteCloud on Gripen, which are expected to take place in 2014."
BriteCloud is an active, expendable decoy about the size of a flare and powered by batteries. It uses Doppler and range-obscuration technologies to defeat chaff-discrimination systems of incoming missiles.
When launched, BriteCloud searches for and counters priority threats.
Incoming radar pulses from the missile are received and the BriteCloud's on-board computer copies these pulses and uses them to simulate a false target.
"As an off-board jamming device, BriteCloud avoids the inherent 'home-on-jam' vulnerabilities of on-board devices where the jamming itself acts as a beacon," Selex ES said. "The self-contained nature of BriteCloud, which does all its processing inside the unit rather than on the platform (aircraft), also allows it to put significant distance between itself and the fighter after launch. This minimizes any risk of incoming missiles detonating in close proximity to the platform."
