A BAE Systems division has been awarded a $28.2 million contract by the U.S. Navy to develop decoys for guarding fighter-bomber jets from radar-guided missiles, Military & Aerospace Electronics reported Sunday.
John Keller writes the electronic systems segment will build 262 AN/ALE-55 fiber optic towed decoys with 70 electronic frequency converters that are intended to protect F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-based jets.
The aircraft-towed decoy is designed as a radio frequency-based countermeasure with onboard electronics to jam radars of air-to-air missiles and bait the anti-aircraft missiles away from targets, the report said.
Company representatives told the website that the AN/ALE-55 is also built to work with other combat planes.
On the other side of the radar coin, BAE is working as a teammate of Raytheon on the Dismounted Detected Radar, which aims to notify soldiers and vehicles of potential threats.
