July 22, 2012:
An Italian firm (AMI) is testing a new electronic warfare (EW) system (JEDI, for Jamming and Electronic Defense Instrumentation) that was developed based on years of AMI experience providing support for EW operations in Afghanistan.
JEDI is mounted on a pallet that is currently being tested aboard an Italian twin-engine transport (C-27J). Once the pallet is loaded, antennae are mounted on the bottom of the aircraft and connected to the pallet equipment (which includes seats for two equipment operators). JEDI provides electronic surveillance and electronic attack capabilities. If JEDI detects a threat (like cell phones or radios being used by the enemy and the operators confirm that), then the jammer is turned on to block certain frequencies.
AMI NATO customers used equipment and tactics like this on the ground. AMI realized that having this stuff inexpensively and quickly airborne was a big advantage. Thus putting JEDI on a pallet that can quickly turn a cargo aircraft into an EW plane is seen as a popular product and the wave of the future. AMI has designed JEDI so that it can quickly accommodate new hardware and software. For that reason the JEDI hardware was mostly commercial stuff.