Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: nak%archie@att.att.com (Neil A Kirby) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Anti-radiation missle capabilities? Message-ID: <1990Aug23.014546.1679@cbnews.att.com> Date: 23 Aug 90 01:45:46 GMT References: <1990Aug21.024249.220@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 34 Approved: military@att.att.com From: nak%archie@att.att.com (Neil A Kirby) In article <1990Aug21.024249.220@cbnews.att.com> Will Martin writes: [stuff deleted] >From: Will Martin >Can anti-radiation missiles, which usually are used against radars operating >in the UHF or microwave range, be used against targets emitting lower >frequencies, like HF radio? Could such a missile be used to home in on the >antenna of a transmitter being used to jam shortwave broadcast reception, >for example? [After the first missile takes out the antenna, could a second >one then home in on the transmitter itself, assuming it is still operating >briefly before the operators shut it down, or the internal protection >circuits notice that the antenna load is gone, and shut the transmitter >down in self-protection from burnout?] I have problems with the "takes out the transmitter" part. The only thing that the missle can really see (electromagnetically) is the antenna. The transmitter is some unknown length of coax away from the antenna. Once the antenna is gone, the shredded coax will likely make a damn poor antenna: impossibly hard to home in on [pause for comic relief: I have visions of very expensive, highly sensitive missiles blasting apart a quarter mile of coax cable 50 feet at a time], and very hard on the final output amplifier stages of the tranmitter. The tranmitter is likely, as you suggest, to shut itself down. Some of these things are capable of taking baby lightening strikes and staying on the air. Take a look at any radio or TV broadcast tower site some time. The buildings that house the transmitter are some distance away from the tower. It's not healthy for them to be in the vicinity of HARM missile mayhem, but they aren't directly threatened. Neil Kirby ...att!archie!nak