6 June, 2018: Leonardo, a global high technology company & key player in Aerospace, Defence & Security has introduces the latest variant in its market-leading ‘BriteCloud’ missile decoy family, the BriteCloud 55-T. The latest 55-T is able to protect large military transport aircraft such as Leonardo’s C27-J and third party platforms including the C-130, KC-390 and A400M from modern, radar-guided missiles. It will join the Company’s existing BriteCloud 55 (for fighter aircraft using 55mm compatible dispensers such as the Tornado, Typhoon and Gripen) and BriteCloud 218 (for fighter aircraft equipped with square format dispensers, such as the F-15 and F-16). At present in the final stages of development, BriteCloud 55-T is available to order now for deliveries in early 2019.
The original drinks-can-sized ‘BriteCloud 55’ countermeasure is designed to protect fighter aircraft and uses a miniaturised Radio-Frequency (RF) jamming module to trick incoming radar-guided missiles into missing their intended target.