The AN/SLQ-49 Chaff Buoy Decoy System, commonly referred to as "Rubber Duck", consists of inflatable radar-reflecting decoy buoys. It is used by the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

, and other

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

countries. The decoy is designed to seduce radar-guided

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A goo ...

s by simulating the

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

cross section of a ship, presenting itself as a more attractive target than the ship. The system is deployed in pairs. The deployment process takes a few seconds. When deployed, the system launches into the water two

octahedron In geometry, an octahedron (plural: octahedra, octahedrons) is a polyhedron with eight faces. The term is most commonly used to refer to the regular octahedron, a Platonic solid composed of eight equilateral triangles, four of which meet at ea ...

-shaped inflatable decoy floats, connected by a cable. They can last up to 3 hours in

sea state In oceanography, sea state is the general condition of the free surface on a large body of water—with respect to wind waves and swell—at a certain location and moment. A sea state is characterized by statistics, including the wave height, ...

4. The AN/SLQ-49 has been in operation since 1985. Originally designed to confuse or distract enemy radar operators, it has demonstrated effective missile seduction capabilities. With the perceived lack of an adversary naval power following the

collapse of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, the AN/SLQ-49 was phased out of U.S. Navy service in the 1990s. It has since been replaced with the

Naval Decoy IDS300 Naval Decoy IDS300 (Inflatable Decoy System) is a passive, off-board, octahedral, corner reflector decoy of the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer and the US Navy's destroyer, forming part of a layered defence to counter anti-ship missiles. Unlike ...

References

External links

AN/SLQ-49 Chaff Buoy Decoy System at fas.org

''Fathom'' Jan-Mar 2000 article on accidental firings of SLQ-49s
Electronic warfare equipment Military decoys Military electronics of the United States Naval warfare {{USN-stub

See also

References

External links