Raytheon could lose its contract to develop the USAir Force's miniature air-launched decoy (MALD) if the General Accounting Office (GAO) upholds a protest by small Chattanooga, Tennessee-based company Accurate Automation. The GAO is scheduled to rule on the protest by mid-September.
Raytheon was awarded the $88 million MALD system development and demonstration contract in June after beating competition from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, as well as Accurate Automation (Flight International, 27 May-2 June). The USAir Force plans to buy 1,500 decoys at a unit cost of between $75,000 and $125,000.
Accurate Automation's bid is believed to have been based on its experience of building unmanned research aircraft for NASA, including a low-speed demonstrator for the hypersonic X-43A, and development of its own small turbojet, the 150lb-thrust (0.7kN) AT-1500.
Raytheon's MALD design uses a 120lb-thrust Hamilton Sundstrand TJ120.
Source: Flight International