Dash 10

Dash 10 (or AN/ALQ-101) is an electronic countermeasures (ECM) pod used on aircraft such as the Blackburn Buccaneer at RAF Honington. It was also used in the Falklands War by the Avro Vulcan bomber during Operation Black Buck.

The system was developed and manufactured by Westinghouse In Baltimore USA.Its use by the RAF on Buccanéer Aircraft based at RAF Honington and RAF Lossiemouth

was supported by Ferranti SuppDelartmentort

department based in Edinburgh UK who introduced a major update to the system. The modifications to adapt it for use on the Vulcan aircraft were carried out by the RAF.

Functionality
Carried externally on a pylon under the wing of the attacking aircraft, the Dash 10 pod is used to counter radar guided weapons. It operates by manipulating the radar signals transmitted from such weapon systems and re-broadcasting them back to the sender in a convincing but highly deceptive manner. The intention is to trick the enemy air-defence system into aiming at an imaginary target which is located some miles distant from the aircraft fitted with the Dash 10 pod. Because enemy air defence systems appear to work normally whilst the Dash 10 pod is operating, the enemy personnel monitoring them do not realise that they are being deceived.