July 30, 2020

Radar detection of very small RCS objects, eg. F-35s?

Here is another thought provoking article from the Asia-Pacific Defence Reporter, July 29, 2020, at
 https://asiapacificdefencereporter.com/thales-ground-fire-radar-production-gets-underway/

"Thales Ground Fire radar production gets underway"

"The first Ground Fire radar is now in production at the Thales Limours site in Essonne to equip, among others, the French Air Force’s New Generation Medium Range Surface-to-Air System (SAMP/T NG). The fully digital multifunction radar, equipped with advanced anti-air and anti-missile capabilities, is capable of countering a wide range of threats, including ballistic missiles. Highly mobile, tactical and air transportable, the radar can be deployed in less than 15 minutes, a major advantage in the theatres of operation. It can handle 360° coverage in azimuth, up to 90° in elevation, and a 400km range.


"Ground Fire: Production of the latest generation radar for air and ballistic missile defence, Thales, [Uploaded by Thales July 28, 2020]"
Designed to simultaneously detect and track a wide range of stealth targets, drone swarms and to prevent coordinated saturation  attacks, the Ground Fire has an air defence missile guidance capability to intercept high-manoeuvring or ballistic targets. Multi-mission, it can be used in various contexts, such as air defence, air surveillance, counter-battery or trajectography.
Ordered in 2019 by the French Procurement Agency, the radar draws on years of engineering and manufacturing development for the Sea Fire, the naval version of the radar selected to equip the Defence and Intervention Frigates of the French Navy. The Ground Fire benefits from Thales’ technological advances in artificial intelligence and cyber security, enabling it to respond perfectly to the fast evolving needs and threats faced by the armed forces..." 

See WHOLE ARTICLE
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PETE COMMENT
For the most modern radars capable of counter-battery mode (like Thales' Ground Fire) Wikipedia reports https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-battery_radar#Description :

"The basic technique is to track a projectile for sufficient time to record a segment of the trajectory... done automatically...Projectile detection ranges are governed by the radar cross section (RCS) of the projectiles. Typical RCS are:

·      -  Mortar bomb 0.01 m2
·      -  Artillery shell 0.001 m2
·       -  Light rocket (e.g., 122 mm) 0.009 m2
·       -  Heavy rocket (e.g., 227 mm) 0.018 m2

The best modern radars can detect howitzer shells at around 30 km and rockets/mortars at 50+ km." 

So counter-battery Radar detection of an Artillery shell with an RCS of "0.001 m2" can be achieved.

Then, in anti-aircraft mode, can detection of the latest F-35s and future B-21 bombers be achieved (albeit with widely distributed sensors eg. other radars and IRST)?

The Russian and Chinese could get hold of such Western radars through third party countries - then incorporate the technology into S-400 radar-missile systems. 

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous7/30/2020 5:22 PM

    Those numbers are not impressive.

    The AN/TPY-2 X-band radar can detect a warhead target with a radar cross-section of 0.01 m2 at a distance of 870 km. The Aegis SPY-1 radar can detect at a distance of 550 km under similar conditions. Imagine what the SPY-6 can do with 30 times more sensitivity.

    For details you can refer to the following site :
    https://mostlymissiledefense.com/2012/09/21/ballistic-missile-defense-radar-range-calculations-for-the-antpy-2-x-band-and-nas-proposed-gbx-radars-september-21-2012/

    The Growler with its AN/ALQ-99 can jam the S400 sensors from a distance of 400 km operating at 30,000 feet. Advances are also being made when the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) rolls out. The RAAF has been making wise bets.

    It is a never ending battle of competing technologies.

    Brumby

    ReplyDelete
  2. retortPouch7/30/2020 6:37 PM

    Imagine how far away something like a Flanker or Kh-35 can be tracked with that kind of radar sensitivity!

    Modern onboard EW is much more effective on low RCS platforms, especially if they come with advanced signal processing and modern antenna designs.

    Offboard EW is made oodles more effective.

    Wearing a green jacket is always better than wearing a red jacket, unless you're square bashing.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lee McCurtayne7/31/2020 3:12 PM

    This is where this art is right now in detecting, but that is the main radar, but can the missile targeter handle that scenario?.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pete7/31/2020 6:45 PM

    Hi Brumby, retortPouch and Lee McCurtayne

    Thanks for your comments.

    I've established a better basis for discussion in the next article "Can Russia and China Detect the F-35 Stealth Aircraft?" of July 31, 2020 at https://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2020/07/can-russia-and-china-detect-f-35.html

    with a good video and separate link.

    Cheers

    Pete

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous8/01/2020 7:47 PM

    The question is not whether the F-35 can be detected but rather whether it can be meaningfully detected.

    It is evidently true that UHF bands have a better probability of detecting the F-35. The problem is that UHF radars are those big size attennas that are highly immobile; easily targetted and jammed because of their smaller frequency bandwidth.

    I wonder why the Chinese are still producing J-20s and the Russians with their SU-57s if the vulnerability is as they claimed. They must be rather foolish.

    Brumby

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pete8/03/2020 3:47 PM

    Thanks Brumby

    See my response "Stealthy Aircraft & Submarines of Long-Term Effectiveness" of August 3, 2020 at http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2020/08/stealthy-aircraft-submarines-of-long.html

    Cheers

    Pete

    ReplyDelete

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