Boeing announced Wednesday that it supported the Air Force earlier this month in the first powered launch of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer from a B-52 bomber. The company said it was a “successful test” over the Gulf of Mexico on the test range at Eglin AFB, Fla. Boeing designed the avionics software onboard the B-52 that controls and launches the Raytheon-built MALD-J, a variant of the MALD baseline decoy that is optimized to loiter or over an area and jam adversaries’ radars. “The software functioned exactly as we designed,” said Scot Oathout, Boeing’s B-52 program director. He added, “This is another great opportunity for the Air Force and Boeing to transform the B-52 and expand its mission from a predominantly offensive role to a more defensive player, defending US and allied aircraft in combat zones.”
Air Force Basic Military Training leaders say changes implemented as part of BMT 2.0 are generating positive results so far—especially when it comes to creating “airminded” new Airmen.
