TUCSON, Ariz. — Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force have validated the performance of an upgraded navigation system for the Miniature Air Launched Decoy-Jammer, or MALD-J, in six test flights from B-52 and F-16 aircraft at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

The system upgrade, designated as the GPS Aided Inertial Navigation System, or GAINS II, includes an enhanced multi-element GPS-controlled antenna assembly. This new technology improves MALD-J navigation performance in a GPS jamming environment. Improvements and efficiencies within the design helped to reduce GAINS II unit costs.

MALD is an expendable flight vehicle that is modular, air-launched and programmable. It weighs fewer than 300
pounds and has a range of approximately 500 nautical miles. MALD-J adds radar-jamming capability to the basic MALD platform.

The MALD platform can confuse enemy air defenses by duplicating friendly aircraft flight profiles and radar signatures. The MALD-J maintains that capability and adds jamming capabilities.

"Improving performance while reducing costs is a win for Raytheon and our customer," said Brian Burton, director of MALD programs for Raytheon.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems in El Segundo, California, supported design work for GAINS II, while Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona, supplied systems engineering, integration and testing.

Raytheon is now producing and delivering MALD-J systems with the upgraded navigation.

Raytheon began delivery of MALD-Js in the fall of 2012.

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