DmitriKozlowsky Posted April 20, 2020 Posted April 20, 2020 Is the ECM pod still an external ALQ-131 or ALQ-184, which does not appear in stores? Or is it now built into vertical stab fairing? Assuming that ECM , aside from chaff/flare, is present.
MadCat1381 Posted April 20, 2020 Posted April 20, 2020 On the Block 50/52 it is still an external pod for the USAF Vipers. The room was made at the base of the vertical stabilizer, but the AF never adopted the ASPJ.
DmitriKozlowsky Posted April 20, 2020 Author Posted April 20, 2020 Thats a shame. I'll have to dig up and article in Air Forces Monthly from 6 years back, not sure, about Hellenic Air Force receiving their new Block52, may have been 50+ or 52+ . Article described a Thales or ELBIT ECM in the fairing. Another article in AFM described Norwegian F-16A MLU CCIP with fairing used for drag chute. I admit, I am puzzled why USAF would decline to stuff ALQ-131 equivalent into low drag fairing, instead of taking up a station best used for fuel. Devil is in the details. Perhaps emitters and receptor lobes would be too costly to integrate on aircraft destined for replacement by F-35. Or USAF did not want the weight penalty. Not certain at all.
MadCat1381 Posted April 20, 2020 Posted April 20, 2020 The ASPJ program run in the late 80s, early 90s when the C models of the F-16 and F/A-18 were developed/went into production. The Navy put the ASPJ in the Hornet, but the AF left the program (I believe in 1991), at that point GD had already made room for it in the Viper. So the F-35 can't be the reason. Maybe they thought, that a pod would be easier to update/upgrade than an internal system. The drag chute already fitted into the old, smaller base of the vertical stab.
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