Procurement of the ALQ-165 Airborne Self-Protection Jammer (ASPJ) is no more justified today than in 1992 when the US Department of Defense elected to cancel the production programme, says the US General Accounting Office (GAO). The device, made by a joint venture of ITT Avionics and Northrop Grumman, was designed to protect US Air Force and US Navy tactical aircraft from radar-guided weapons. The Pentagon planned to spend nearly $5 billion for the ASPJ, but it cancelled the project five years ago, claiming that the jammer performed poorly in tests. In 1995, ASPJ systems were taken out of storage to equip McDonnell Douglas F-18s and Northrop Grumman F-14Ds in Bosnia and the Middle East.
Source: Flight International