Raytheon marks 1,000th delivery of MALD-J system to Air Force

TUCSON, May 13 (UPI) -- Raytheon is spotlighting the delivery of its 1,000th Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer to the U.S. Air Force.

MALD is a modular, low-cost, air-launched and programmable decoy vehicle. It helps protect aircraft and their crews by duplicating the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft.

The system is less than 300 pounds in weight and has a range of about 500 nautical miles.

MALD protects aircraft and their crews by duplicating the combat flight profiles and signatures of U.S. and allied aircraft. MALD-J adds radar-jamming capability to the basic MALD platform and has been delivered to the U.S. military since 2012.

The 1,000th MALD-J delivered recently was part of a Lot 5 production contract the company said.

"The MALD program has enjoyed a perfect 33-for-33 flight test record over the past two years," said Mike Jarrett, vice president of Air Warfare Systems for Raytheon Missile Systems. "The MALD has demonstrated it can simultaneously increase the combat capability of platforms, sensors, weapons and decision-makers working in the battlespace."