Rafael unveils X-Guard RT towed decoy for the protection of large platforms

Rafael announces the launch of the X-Guard RT™, the latest addition its X-Guard™ family of reusable towed EW decoys. The X-Guard RT has been developed to offer unparalleled protection for a wide range of aerial platforms, including cargo planes, early warning and intelligence platforms, patrol aircraft, other special missions’ platforms and fighter aircraft

“The X-Guard RT has been developed to respond to the latest evolution of adversary integrated air defence systems and the lessons learned from recent conflicts, namely the Ukraine one, were you see a diffuse deployment of long-range surface to air missiles which uses radar guidance systems. This influences the effectiveness of large special mission platforms such as intelligence, early warning, stand-off jamming aircrafts. Most if not all these platforms are not equipped with an adequate self-defence suite but are going to operate inside the range of these threats,” Dagan Lev Avi, director of Business Development Sales, Air to Surface directorate Air & C4I division tells EDR On-Line. These scenarios, and the request coming from the customers, have pushed Rafael to further develop its family of X-Guard reusable towed decoys towards a self-contained system capable to provide a protection against these threats.

The X-Guard family boasts several key features enabling unique and effective protection for aerial platforms. “The X-Guard is the only towed EW decoy that is reusable, being deployable and retractable during flight, and providing a highly cost-effective solution. With minimal limitations on aircraft manoeuvrability, X-Guard supports an exceptionally broad flight envelope, maintaining operational flexibility without degradation in flight performances. Featuring extremely high transmission power and wide spatial coverage, the X-Guard offers world-leading EW protection capabilities,” Lev Avi explained. “The X-Guard is fully operational and proven on fighter aircraft,” he added without elaborating on customers and platforms. The X-Guard has been however spotted being installed on a Dassault Rafale test aircraft, reportedly as part of the enhanced and customized package for the Indian Air Force.

Consisting in an aerodynamic pod being installed on wing stations ‘hard points’, and accommodating an advanced reel out/reel-in mechanism alongside the decoy itself, the X-Guard can be deployed – either when the aircraft approaches a threatened area or upon detection of an imminent threat, maintaining both electrical and fibre-optic continuity throughout the flight. Upon mission completion, the decoy is reeled into its stowed mode position inside. Designed to counter both radar-guided air-to-air and ground-to-air missiles during operational missions, the X-Guard is equipped with a high Effective Radiated Power (ERP) solid state antenna array with full sphere coverage capable to defeat advanced tracking radars, including mono-pulse and Lobe-On-Receive-Only (LORO) radar types. With a weight, including the pod and the decoy, of 65 kg, the X-Guard is certified for use within the fighter aircraft operational flight envelope, including an altitude of up to 50,000 feet, a velocity of up to Mach 1.6 and a 7g acceleration.

“The X-Guard is integrated with the aircraft and its onboard EW suite using standard protocols. The towed decoy receives the signal generated by the EW technique generator on board the platform acting as an extended arm of the EW suite, trailing 150 metres behind the aircraft,” Lev Avi highlighted. This represents the main difference with the X-Guard RT or Receive and Transmit model, “which is a self-contained towed decoy containing a full EW system that receives radar emissions and generates the appropriate technique to respond to the threat,” he continued. This in order to overcome the absence of active EW suites on board large platforms such as cargo or special mission aircraft, alongside the need to protect platforms with a higher radar signature.

“Having Rafael developed decoys for more than 50 years, the X-Guard RT EW package is already developed and fully operational in another system. In the last years, we were able to miniaturize our electronic warfare technology into a size we can fit within the frame of the X-Guard. We currently have other operational counter measures solution which payload was integrated into the towed decoy system to create the X-Guard RT,” Boris Katsman, Director Marketing and Business Development Electronic Warfare highlighted. The new towed decoy’s payload is composed of a self-contained package centred around a compact and advanced Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) with a high ERP transmitter and a solid-state Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) with a wideband coverage and a 360° spatial coverage. “Due to its large size, the X-Guard RT generates very powerful jamming and cannot be compared to other smaller towed decoys, providing the necessary protection for large platforms even against modern and future threats” Katsman explained without giving information on the decoy dimensions and weight. This allows a single X-Guard RT to be capable to protect a large platform. Another distinctive feature regards the fact that Rafael was able to develop a fixed aerodynamic stabilisation system or flare to keep the decoy stable compared to moving fins used by competitors, allowing the system to be simpler, more efficient and requiring less maintenance.

“In addition to being deployed and recovered during the mission when needed, another main advantage is that although we have one time integration costs, the life costs are much lower. Being more capable and able to protect larger platforms, the other main advantage is that its effect lasts continuously throughout the engagement, while expandable active decoys have an extremely short effective duration and therefore you must synchronize them or you are losing their effectiveness,” Katsman explained.

As the requirements to protect large platforms from long range RF-guided missile are quite new, based on lessons learned from the Ukraine conflict, the X-Guard RT development was launched more recently, and test and qualification are continuing. In response to the lessons learned from recent conflicts, the X-Guard RT™ addresses the evolving challenges of modern warfare, including advanced and diverse Integrated Air Defense Systems (IADS), lack of intelligence, and extended periods of lacking air dominance.

Photos courtesy Rafael