MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The UK-designed and produced miniature decoy can be fired from an aircraft’s flare dispenser and uses radar emissions to confuse incoming air-to-air or surface-to-air missiles to the point of allowing the aircraft to escape.
"The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has placed a £2.5 million order for UK-designed and built miniature decoys which will help to protect combat jets from missiles… This new £2.5 million batch order will allow the RAF to explore how BriteCloud could best be deployed operationally," the ministry said in a statement.
Around 25 million pounds have been invested in the project so far, with the system likely to start operating on the United Kingdom's Panavia Tornado strike aircraft by mid-2017, according to the statement.
In March 2016, Leonardo-Finmeccanica announced in a statement that the Royal Air Force had successfully carried out its initial evaluation of the BriteCloud decoy. The system was tested against a range of simulated 21st century threats featuring real radar systems.