RAFAEL announces the launch of the X-Guard RT, the latest addition to its X-Guard family of reusable towed EW decoys for fighter aircraft, cargo planes, early warning and intelligence platforms, patrol aircraft, special missions platforms, and more.
According to a company official, the new towed decoy was developed in response to the lessons learned from recent conflicts, with air forces facing advanced and diverse Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS) effective over long ranges, lack of intelligence on threats, and extended periods of lacking air dominance. The new towed decoy operates independently of the platform’s ECM system, thus enabling aircraft that previously operated far from perceived threats and, therefore, lacked self-protection to add effective CM using the X-Guard RT towed decoy. “We have overcome the great aero-mechanical challenges of making this unique towed EW system reusable, making it an affordable protection for most platforms.”
The X-Guard family boasts several key features enabling unique and effective protection for aerial platforms. As a towed EW decoy retractable during flight, it is reusable and a cost-effective solution that enables users to integrate more advanced techniques. Featuring extremely high transmission power and wide spatial coverage, the X-Guard offers exceptional EW protection capabilities. With minimal limitations on aircraft maneuverability, X-Guard RT supports a broad flight envelope, maintaining operational flexibility without degradation of in-flight performance.
Unlike previous generations and EW common decoys that rely on the aircraft’s EW systems for signal receiving and processing and use the decoy to transmit signals remotely of the aircraft, X-Guard RT operates independently, using an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) for receive and transmit with signal processing on board, without requiring support from the aircraft ECM. Operating across a wide frequency range with advanced Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) techniques, the decoy can match the transmitted signals to match the hostile radar and mimic the target’s profile, thus ensuring advanced threat detection and effective jamming against a broad spectrum of radar-guided threats. The decoy is fully programmable, enabling mission customization and adaptation to new threats. Enhanced with longer engagement times, the X-Guard RT allows wider protection coverage during missions.
