The Air Force has awarded a $49 million contract to Raytheon to begin engineering and manufacturing development of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy stand-in jammer variant, known as MALD-J. The Air Force already has contracted Raytheon for low-rate initial production for the first two lots of the basic MALD and plans an as-yet unspecified mix of 3,000 of the two systems. In a May 6 company release, Scott Muse, MALD program manager, said, “During EMD, Raytheon will put MALD-J through an aggressive series of free-flight and captive-carry tests.” MALD-J had its first free flight in December 2009, after completing successfully all its test events. USAF’s MALD program manager, Ken Watson, said, “In executing the MALD-J program, Raytheon has been ahead of schedule and under budget for 39 months in a row.” USAF expects MALD-J to reduce the need for manned stand-in jamming aircraft. (For more on MALD programs, read Time to be Fooled)
AFSOC Grounds CV-22 Osprey Fleet Over Safety Issue
Aug. 17, 2022
Air Force Special Operations Command grounded its CV-22 Osprey fleet Aug. 16 as part of a safety stand down, with no timeline set for the aircraft to begin flying again, the command confirmed to Air Force Magazine. The stand down, ordered by AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. James C. “Jim” Slife,…