Talk:AN/ALE-55 Fiber-Optic Towed Decoy

AN/ALE-55 Fiber-Optic-Towed-Decoy (FOTD). This page needs some help.... don't know where to start. Just read it now and it just does not get the point across that the ALE-55 is generation ahead from what it replaced: The combat proven ALE-50. Where in Allied Force 1999 of all of the Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) lock-ons to ALE-50 equipped B-1 bombers, all of them were spoofed.

The 55 introduces a fiber optic cable which the 50 didn't have. In testing it was also worked on to reduce the threat of the heat from the burners on the Super Hornet from cutting the cable. The fiber optic cable is needed as there is more data passing between this towed decoy and the host aircraft's defensive jammer.The ALE-55 FOTD system is different from the operational ALE-50 towed decoy system, in that the ALE-50 has no fiber-optics and generates its own electronic response to enemy threats. Being able to use the processing capabilities of host aircraft equipment allows a better threat response for the ALE-55 FOTD system.

What also makes the 55 big over the 50 is that with the newer generation internal jammers like the upgrade to the Super Hornet of the new AN/ALQ-214, the whole defensive system from radar detection, to defensive spoofing (towed decoy or no), is integrated much better than before by (IDECM) Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures. IDECM incorporates onboard receivers and off-board countermeasures that include the high-powered FOTD and deployment canister. "IDECM provides a highly effective electronic warfare defense for U.S. military aircraft against current and future RF missile threats. Currently, the IDECM is slated for deployment on the F/A-18E/F, the B-1B, and the F-15 aircraft." (Quoting the spec sheet)

Where with IDECM running the defensive show, after calulating the threat it along with the AN/ALQ-214, can make the ALE-55 perform a variety of jamming/spoofing that before would have been emitted from the host aircraft only. It is a big step ahead in defensive technique from the days of the ALE-50 and older defensive jammers. In situations where the defensive suite makes it practical, having the ALE-55 being the source of all defensive emissions helps the host aircraft reduce the risk of being a home-on-jam target.

Of course as some will point out, towed decoys are important because some terminal radar threats can velocity track ejectable decoys, notice that they are reducing in speed significantly and look for the fasted target in it's field of view (usually the aircraft it is meant to shoot down). Here a towed decoy stays the same speed as the aircraft it is supposed to defend.

That is a simplistic overview, maybe someone can do a write up on the page that is more effective. ELPusa