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From: edat!brian@uunet.UU.NET (brian douglass personal account)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Airborne Radar
Message-ID: <1991Mar1.054007.1163@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 1 Mar 91 05:40:07 GMT
References: <1991Feb28.052606.10693@cbnews.att.com>
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From: edat!brian@uunet.UU.NET (brian douglass personal account)

In article <1991Feb28.052606.10693@cbnews.att.com> yarvin-norman@CS.YALE.EDU (Norman Yarvin) writes:
>Is the
>AWACS's disk shielding a rotating antenna?  And what sort of mechanism can
>fit in a fighter's nose?

The AWACS radome rotates itself, as the whole thing is an antenna.
The radar in a fighter sweeps back and forth while pointed
forward.

>
>Second, the limit on a radar's range is due to a combination of antenna
>geometry and output power.  Is it the AWACS's superior antenna or its higher
>power that gives it range advantages over fighter radars?
>

I think both, but others know better than I.  The real advantage is
in tactics.  AWACS could spot an aircraft across the the whole of
Iraq, and direct fighters to intercept.  This while the figthers
hav their radars off and give no signature.   This allowed Coalition 
forces to crawl right into an Iraqis tail, and then "burn em down" 
when he turns on his fire control radar.  Poor dumb Iraqi has every 
buzzer and alarm go off in his cockpit just as an AIM-9J slides up 
his tail pipe.

Rumor is that the radar on an F-15C is so good, it can actually
count the number of blades on an oncoming jet's engines, and then
determine what kind of plane it is based on this and profile.  This
at 20 miles out!  Anyway, that is the rumor, but it comes from
someone (not I) who should know.  Could anyone else elaborate?

-- 
Brian Douglass			brian@edat.uucp
"Do you know what Saddam Hussein and his father have in common?"
"Neither one knows when to pull out!"