Airborne Systems Awarded Contract to Supply Anti-Missile Decoys to the U.S. Navy

Airborne Systems, a division of HDT Global, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Navy to supply its Mk59 naval floating corner reflector decoy system.

The contract to supply the Mk59 naval floating corner reflector decoy system is valued at $41.7 million over the next five years and will see the decoy system fitted to U.S. frigates/destroyers.

The Mk59 corner reflector decoy offers a unique countermeasure protection against the most advanced emerging RF seeking missiles.

"The U.S. Navy has recognised the capability that the Mk59 system offers, and to win this contract is a major achievement for Airborne Systems," says Dr. Vicki Panhuise, President, Airborne Systems.

"The award of this contract further confirms the position of Airborne Systems as the world leader in naval decoy technology."

"This is one of a number of electronic warfare decoy products being designed and manufactured by Airborne Systems' European facility, and represents a growing market, states Chris Rowe, Managing Director, Airborne Systems Europe.

"In addition to providing protection for the forces of our allies, it also provides and sustains high quality jobs in the UK, and more particularly in South Wales."

Peter Barrett the Airborne Systems Business Development Manager for naval decoys adds,

"As newer and more advanced threats emerge on the marketplace, navies will have to re-examine their strategies for defeating RF missiles, as the more traditional countermeasures that have been utilised for many years will be increasingly ineffective against these advanced missiles."

The Mk59 decoy system being supplied to the U.S. Navy represents several generations of advancements to the previously supplied ANSLQ49 decoy which went out of service with the U.S. Navy in the early 2000's.

Airborne Systems corner reflector decoys have been fitted to the UK Royal Navy frigates since 1986, with the latest version for the UK Royal Navy entering service in 2006, including their latest Type 45 Destroyer. Other NATO nations have also fitted various versions of the decoy system onto their vessels.


The decoy system itself comprises of deck mounted launch tube, which is already preloaded with the Mk59 decoy, and upon pressing the fire button in the Ops room the process then becomes fully automatic. The decoy is launched out of the tube, and fully inflates alongside the ship's hull on the sea surface, before automatically being released and free floating past the stern. This entire deployment and inflation process takes a very short period of time, making the Mk59 effective against even supersonic threats.


A fully independent unit, the decoy does not require to be supported with other countermeasures such as jammers. One single decoy only gives ship soft kill protection, per threat engaged, providing a high level of performance for a low level cost, compared to other multiple firing lower performing countermeasures.

The decoy systems are designed and manufactured to meet specific requirements to match the performance and fighting tactics of the customer's navy. These performance requirements are Radar Cross Section (RCS) values, the time required from firing to full effectiveness on the sea surface, and the duration that the decoy is required to remain effective on the sea surface.