The ADM-141A/B TALD was an American decoy

Decoy

A decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may...

 missile

Missile

Though a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...

 originally built by Brunswick Corporation

Brunswick Corporation

The Brunswick Corporation , formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is a United States-based corporation that has been involved in manufacturing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick's global headquarters is in the northern Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois...

 for the USAF

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 and the Israeli Air Force

Israeli Air Force

The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...

. Later it transitioned to joint US/Israeli manufacture with Israeli Military Industries Advanced Systems Division (IMI-ASD).

The Tactical Air Launched Decoy (TALD) was intended to confuse and saturate enemy air defenses, as part of an overall SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) strategy thus allowing attacking aircraft and weapons a higher probability of penetrating to the target. The Improved TALD is a turbojet-powered version.

History

In the 1970s, the Brunswick Corp. developed several unpowered radar decoys including the Samson, which was produced for the Israeli Air Force by Israel Military Industries

Israel Military Industries

Israel Weapons Industries , formerly the "Magen" division of the Israel Military Industries Ltd. is an Israeli firearms manufacturer. In 2005, the Small Arms Division of IMI was privatized....

 (IMI) in the early 1980s. The Samson proved highly successful, prompting the US Navy to purchase some 2,000 of them during the mid to late 1980s. The first units entered US service in 1987; in 1985, Brunswick was asked to develop an improved Samson named TALD.

The TALD was an expendable glide vehicle with a square fuselage, flip-out wings, and three tail control surfaces. A digital flight control system could be programmed to conduct various speed or manoeuvering changes during flight. The missile could be launched from 12,200 metres (40,000 ft), at which height it had a range of up to 126 kilometres (78.3 mi) - a low altitude range reduced this to 26 kilometres (16.2 mi).

Variants

The TALD was built in different versions.

ADM-141A

The ADM-141A has a passive and active radar enhancers. An IR addon was fielded for a while but was later withdrawn from service.

ADM-141C

The ADM-141C (ITALD) has the same passive and active radar enhancers as the ADM-141A TALD.

Operations

The TALD was used with great success in the opening stages of Operation Desert Storm in 1991; more than 100 were launched on the opening night of the war, prompting the Iraqi air defence to activate many of its radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

s - most of which were then destroyed by anti-radiation missiles.

The Improved TALD is powered by a Teledyne

Teledyne

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an industrial conglomerate primarily based in the United States but with global operations. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky....

 CAE Model 312 (J700-CA-400) turbojet. This boosted the range to more than 300 kilometres (186.4 mi) at high altitude and 185 kilometres (115 mi) at low altitude. This model was also capable of performing a flight profile which resembled that of a real aircraft much more convincingly. Initially twenty TALDs were upgraded to ADM-141C ITALD configuration, with the first flight conducted in 1996. Since then the U.S. Navy has ordered over 200 ADM-141Cs.

The major user of the ADM-141 is the F/A-18 Hornet

F/A-18 Hornet

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is a supersonic, all-weather carrier-capable multirole fighter jet, designed to dogfight and attack ground targets . Designed by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, the F/A-18 was derived from the latter's YF-17 in the 1970s for use by the United States Navy and...

. A single Hornet can carry up to 6 decoys.

Specifications

• Length : 2.34 m (7 ft 8 in)
• Wingspan : 1.55 m (5 ft 1 in)
• Weight : 180 kg (400 lb)
• Speed : Up to Mach 0.8 (460 km/h, 250 kt)
• Range : 126 km (78 m) - (Over 300 km (185 m) for the ADM-141C)
• Propulsion : Teledyne CAE J700-CA-400 turbojet, 790 N (177 lbf) on ADM-141C only