ADM-160 MALD

The ADM-160 MALD is a programmable, expendable air-launched decoy that imitates aircraft flight profiles and radar signatures; the MALD-J variant adds radar jamming.

Overview

The Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, or MALD, is a US-developed flight vehicle intended to confuse integrated air defenses and support the aircraft and weapons approaching them. Raytheon produces the operational family. Air & Space Forces Magazine distinguishes the ADM-160B decoy from the ADM-160C, designated MALD-J, which combines deception with an expendable radar-jamming payload.

MALD presents an aircraft-like radar signature while following a programmed flight profile. MALD-J can also interfere with early-warning and acquisition radars, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The distinction matters when assessing combat reports: evidence of a baseline decoy does not establish that the operator possesses the jamming variant.

Air & Space Forces Magazine names the F-16 and B-52 as the lead employment aircraft. Ukraine subsequently integrated MALD onto Soviet-designed fighters. The War Zone documented Ukrainian aircraft carrying the decoy and described its use alongside Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG and AGM-88 HARM. That record establishes an operational role in supporting strike missions, while leaving the number of decoys supplied and their contribution to individual strike outcomes unresolved.

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