The Air Force has suspended the development of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy (MALD) citing cost issues. They emphasized that MALD has not been cancelled and could be restarted next year, or replaced by another system. The concept was an expendable air vehicle able to fly 250 nautical miles in 20 minutes while simulating the flight path of an F-16 fighter. Northrop Grumman has developed several derivatives of MALD including an electronic jammer and an air-to-air weapon. The Air Force is reportedly still interested in the variants because the modular MALD can be configured easily for various missions.--Stephen V Cole