Deceptive decoy

Deceptive decoys, in electronic warfare, interfere with the tracking or final guidance of an enemy threat. They can be simple expendables, such as chaff or flares, or a more intelligent towed decoy such as the AN/ALE-55.

The AN/ALE-55 has an onboard radar transmitter, with a fiber optic cable running back to its aircraft's controller, the AN/ALE-47. The controller, in turn, can send directions to the decoy transmitters from all the onboard and remote sensors available to the aircraft. Earlier towed decoys, such as the AN/ALE-50, had to depend on their own onboard and limited radar processing.