ADM - 160 MALD The ADM - 160 MALD ( Miniature Air - Launched Decoy ) is a decoy missile developed by the United States of America . Overview . DARPA MALD program . The Miniature Air - Launched Decoy ( MALD ) program was begun in 1995 by DARPA as an effort to develop a small , low cost decoy missile for use in the suppression of enemy defences . Teledyne Ryan ( acquired by Northrop Grumman in 1999 ) was granted a development contract for the ADM - 160A in 1996 , and the first test flight took place in 1999 . The evaluation program was finished by 2001 . The US Air Force planned to acquire several thousand of ADM - 160A ' s , but in 2001 this was reduced to at most 150 for a System Development and Demonstration ( SDD ) program . In January 2002 , the USAF cancelled the program because the drone didn ' t have enough range and endurance to meet the service ' s requirements or to perform other missions . The ADM - 160A carries a Signature Augmentation Subsystem ( SAS ) which is composed of various active radar enhancers which cover a range of frequencies . The SAS can therefore simulate any aircraft , from the B - 52 Stratofortress to the F - 117 Nighthawk . The missile has folded wings to allow more compact carriage . On launch the wings unfold and a TJ - 50 turbojet propels the missile on a pre - determined course which is composed of up to 100 different waypoints . An inertial navigation system with GPS support keeps the MALD on course . Although pre - programmed before the aircraft leaves the ground , the course can be modified by the pilot at any point up to launch . New USAF competition . In 2002 , the USAF renewed its interest in an air - launched decoy and started a new industry - wide competition for a variant with greater endurance . The contract for a new MALD was awarded to Raytheon in Spring 2003 . The Raytheon ADM - 160B is similar in configuration to the ADM - 160A , but has a trapezoidal fuselage cross section and is larger and heavier . It is powered by a Hamilton Sundstrand TJ - 150 , a more powerful variant of the TJ - 50 . The first ADM - 160B was delivered in Spring 2009 . In 2010 an " operationally significant quantity " of the drones were delivered to the Air Force . The USAF currently plans to procure about 1 , 500 . In 2008 a contract for a jamming variant MALD - J was awarded to Raytheon . It made its first freefall test in 2009 and passed its critical design review in early 2010 . The first MALD - J was delivered to the Air Force on September 6 , 2012 . On September 24 , Raytheon started operational testing , achieving four successful flights out of four launches . In November 2012 , Raytheon completed ground verification tests for the MALD and MALD - J for integration onto the MQ - 9 Reaper UAV . Integration onto the aircraft is expected sometime in 2013 , with the goal for an unmanned suppression of enemy air defenses capability . In June 2013 , Raytheon completed a four - year development program of the MALD , under budget . The MALD and MALD - J successfully completed all 30 engineering and operational flight tests , with each version completing 15 . US Navy . The Naval Surface Warfare Center will place an order for the MALD - J . Systems integration has been announced as of July 6 , 2012 , by the Raytheon Corp . for the U . S . Navy ' s F / A - 18 E / F Super Hornet . The process will include a series of risk reduction activities and technology demonstrations . UK MOD . The UK MOD expressed interest on the MALD - V platform at the Paris Airshow in 2009 . References . This article contains material that originally came from the web article " Unmanned Aerial Vehicles " by Greg Goebel , which exists in the Public Domain .