Using MALD-J or SPEAR-EW best practices discussion

[Twistedpretzel]

I usually use these off-axis to pull away assets from the target away from the attack or mixed in with the attack. I always manually control these assets and do BOL-Attacks with them. I noticed recently the SPEAR-EW is able to actually target units, and it seems they attempt to jam frequencies specific to known sensors of that system. Is this accurate? Is there anyway to automate the launch of these decoys/jammers as part of a mission? Thanks much!

[SeaQueen]

I usually use these off-axis to pull away assets from the target away from the attack or mixed in with the attack. I always manually control these assets and do BOL-Attacks with them. I noticed recently the SPEAR-EW is able to actually target units, and it seems they attempt to jam frequencies specific to known sensors of that system. Is this accurate? Is there anyway to automate the launch of these decoys/jammers as part of a mission? Thanks much!

It depends. You're using the decoys in a deceptive role, to pull things away. Which isn't necessarily a bad tactic. You could use them in other ways too. There isn't a single "best practice," just lots of possible tactics, which might be applicable in the right situation. If I was using decoys with their jammers, I might want to use them on-axis, not to pull things away, but to screen the strike that is mixed in with them. That way, they cause chaos and make it much more difficult to discern the real aircraft from the strikers. It's just a big mess. You could mix decoys in with cruise missiles to make the cruise missiles more survivable. You could stimulate a SAM shooter that isn't emitting to make it more vulnerable. There's lots of ways to use decoys. All of these ideas aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Maybe you mix cruise missiles in with decoys because if they can't tell the decoys from the cruise missiles then they can't ignore the decoys and not light up. They have to honor the threat. There isn't just one thing to do. It's up to your crafty mind to think of ways of using decoys to solve problems.

[Craigkn]

I have been considering using MALD's in a air-to-air scenario. In real life, the MALD can simulate a larger radar return, to simulate an aircraft - in CMO, the computer seems compelled to shoot them down no matter what (once they are deemed hostile). Send a flight of MALD's down one axis, and while the adversary engages them, your own fighters attack from a different axis. At least it would help the adversary expend missiles on the MALD's, reducing the number available to target manned aircraft. I have not tested this yet, but it seems a little different from using them during a land strike mission.

[thewood1]

None of the real AARs or planned usage of MALD, MALD-J, nor MALD-X show applying them to AAW. Everything about them seems focused on SEAD and strike. Is this just because we haven't had an recent air threats deemed worthy of it or is because they have some weakness that makes the US hesitant to use them there?

[blu3s]

Recently there was news of an ADM-160 found in a Ukrainian attack being used in conjunction with storm shadows.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/e ... ne-emerges

[Craigkn]

None of the real AARs or planned usage of MALD, MALD-J, nor MALD-X show applying them to AAW. Everything about them seems focused on SEAD and strike. Is this just because we haven't had an recent air threats deemed worthy of it or is because they have some weakness that makes the US hesitant to use them there?

I think fighting J-20B's with PL-15's, the US will need every advantage they can have. It would be fun to experiment in a scenario, however, to see if could work. This would be very similar to Tom Clancy's "Dance of the Vampires", where the USSR used drones to trick the F-14's into firing at the wrong targets, however in this case, it would potentially enable a better AAW outcome.

[Twistedpretzel]

I'm still trying to determine the targeting feature I saw on the SPEAR-EW, looks like it will target specific frequencies from the platform you select. I haven't seen any documentation on this yet.

[Craigkn]

Follow-up to my AAW intrest, I created a test scenario. Firing a few salvos towards an AAW patrol mission, the MALD-J's were type classified and marked hostile, and engaged using "Aircraft Unspecified" WRA. This seems a valid tactic for an AAW scenario, if you were looking for the adversary to expend munitions on decoys.