Saed News: The aerospace company Leonardo in the UK has unveiled an electronic warfare system called BriteStorm, which can deceive the enemy with a fleet of fake fighter jets. This system essentially enables air forces to create a ghost-like array of aircraft and missiles, disrupting the enemy’s radar defense systems and penetrating their airspace.
According to the Science and Technology Desk of Saed News, and based on the company’s statement, BriteStorm can perform “stand-in jamming” ahead of the main force, offering forward electronic interference to disrupt the enemy’s integrated air defense systems. This differs from traditional “stand-off” jamming systems—such as the EA-37B Compass Call or Boeing EA-18G Growler—which operate at a safe distance from enemy defenses.
This system was developed by Leonardo UK at its electronic warfare R&D and manufacturing base in Luton, England. In partnership with the UK Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO), Leonardo has already successfully tested BriteStorm. The system is designed to be compatible with “the widest possible range of drones and launched effects.”
According to Defense News, the device is reportedly about the size of six Coca-Cola cans and weighs around 2.5 kilograms. It uses Leonardo’s digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) technology to “detect and assess the electronic warfare threat environment” and has a wide array of capabilities to confuse enemy systems.
Unlike Leonardo’s BriteCloud—which uses similar tech to jam missile radar guidance systems—BriteStorm is engineered to disable ground-based radar systems, preventing them from tracking friendly aircraft. This is done by faking “ghost-like” radar signatures of fighter jets to fool enemy systems into tracking phantom aircraft—or by exhausting their systems with electronic noise.
While investment in effective technologies like BriteStorm is clearly beneficial, unit cost is a key consideration. In this case, Leonardo says the system is very affordable and thus expendable, meaning operators won’t incur major losses if drones carrying the device are shot down. Defense News quotes Michael Lee, VP of Electronic Warfare Sales at Leonardo UK:
“It’s priced so that it can be treated as an expendable asset, so if it gets shot down, it won’t bankrupt you or create a major strategic problem.”
The base product includes a platform-specific antenna, receiver and transmitter modules, and Leonardo’s Miniature Technique Generator. Leonardo will showcase BriteStorm this week at the AUSA (Association of the United States Army) conference in Washington, claiming that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is a potential key customer, while also expecting interest from clients in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific.
Many countries are focusing on advanced unmanned aerial platforms as part of their sixth-generation fighter concepts, and products like BriteStorm are seen as key complements to these platforms. The U.S. is working on its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) concept to pair with the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, while the UK, Italy, and Japan are jointly developing the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
