The newest variant of the US Marine Corps' (USMC's) AN/ALQ-231(V) Intrepid Tiger II electronic-warfare (EW) system has begun flight testing on the MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor.
The MV-22B Osprey flies for the first time on 15 June with the latest Intrepid Tiger II (V)4 EW payload. This marked the start of developmental flight testing for the (V)4 variant and the first time the payload was mounted internally on an aircraft. (US Navy)
Intrepid Tiger II is a network-enabled family of systems that has been developed to deliver a Rapid Deployment Capability to support ground combat operations, especially the requirement for counter-communications and irregular warfare radio-frequency target sets. The system is designed and developed by the US Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Weapons Division in conjunction with the Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR's) Airborne Electronic Attack Systems and EA-6B Program Office (PMA-234); Jopana Technologies provides support to NAWC Weapons Division through the provision of systems hardware and engineering services for Intrepid Tiger II.
The (V)1 variant of Intrepid Tiger II is already fielded on the AV-8B Harrier II, F/A-18 A++/C/D Hornet, and KC-130J aircraft, while the (V)3 version is cleared on the UH-1Y Huey helicopter. Both the (V)1 and (V)3 instantiations use a podded payload attached to an external hardpoint.
An externally mounted pod was not an option for the MV-22 as the aircraft does not have traditional wing stations from which to mount external payloads. Instead, the AN/ALQ-231(V)4 variant takes the form of an internal roll-on/roll-off rack-mounted payload controlled from a laptop in the aircraft cabin.
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