The US Air Force is looking to enhance its Electronic Warfare countermeasures using an aircraft-mounted pod called the “Angry Kitten.” Although not a new device, the latest tests involved the use of the Angry Kitten Electronic Warfare Pod on an unmanned General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper drone. Developed at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Angry Kitten is designed to be fully adaptive and autonomous, with capabilities not currently available in radar jammers.
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The original Angry Kitten is described as a radio frequency jammer that integrates commercial electronics, custom hardware, and novel machine learning software. By training on various radio electronic attack and electronic protection methods, the Angry Kitten can independently assess and respond to new opposing technology. Since its development, it has been successfully used by the Air Force and has demonstrated the ability to be rapidly reprogrammed and adapt to previously unknown electronic warfare measures.
Pressure from senior USAF staff has led to the adaptation of Angry Kitten into an offensive weapon, marking the first operational assessment of a deployable and combat-ready electronic warfare system for fighter aircraft. This development has now allowed the technology to be mounted on a Reaper drone.
Despite these advancements, concerns have been raised regarding the lagging Electronic Warfare Capabilities of the US in comparison to other countries, particularly China and Russia. Representative Don Bacon mentioned that the US had let its electronic warfare capabilities decline, while countries like China and Russia had surpassed them. However, the US has been working on projects such as the Behavioral Learning for Adaptive Electronic Warfare (BLADE) program and the Adaptive Radar Countermeasures (ARC) program to address these concerns.
The outcome of these programs, as well as the evolution of the Angry Kitten pod, remains unclear. The Air Force has not provided any details due to operational security concerns.
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