Decoy system passes tests

LONDON, April 18 (UPI) -- New decoy technology for fast-moving military aircraft has successfully passed testing, paving the way for its production by Selex ES.

The system is named BriteCloud Expendable Active Decoy, a self-contained digital RF memory jammer for fast jet aircraft, providing an off-board capability to decoy RF-guided missiles and fire control radars.

“We had already done a huge amount of testing, including extensive computer modelling and ground-based sled trials, so we were confident in the performance of BriteCloud,” said Pete Forrest, vice president of Marketing and Sales for Electronic Warfare at Selex ES. “That said, it’s great to have put the decoy in a real-life scenario and seen it perform exactly as intended, which will reassure some potential customers who maybe didn’t quite believe that this technology is as far ahead of our competition as we’ve just proven.”

In the end-to-end tests, BriteCloud decoys were launched from a fighter aircraft that was being tracked by a ground-based fire-control radar. The decoys detected the threat radar and jammed the threats with their jammer.

BriteCloud is the same size and shape as a flare and dispensed from a standard 55mm flare cartridge. Aircraft manufacturer Saab of Sweden will offer the decoy system as an electronic warfare enhancement option for its Gripen fighters.