Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: scott@swindle.Berkeley.EDU (Scott Silvey)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Airborne Radar
Message-ID: <1991Mar4.212132.9342@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Mar 91 21:21:32 GMT
References: <1991Feb28.052606.10693@cbnews.att.com> <1991Mar1.054007.1163@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (william.b.thacker)
Organization: UC Berkeley Experimental Computing Facility
Lines: 25
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: scott@swindle.Berkeley.EDU (Scott Silvey)
edat!brian@uunet.UU.NET (brian douglass personal account) writes:
|> 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?

I have also heard of the "target ID" feature on some US fighters, but I have
  no idea how it works.  I would doubt that the radar could actually resolve 
  the individual whirling blades and then count them ... perhaps it might use
  something tricky like doppler-shift?.  It would have to go right down the
  tail pipe or intakes anyway.  I would guess a computer tries to measure the
  radar signature and perhaps the RWR measures radar output of an oncomming
  aircraft, comparing such numbers with some prepared catalog of known
  parameters?

/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Scott Silvey           | Message actually given by rn:                      |
| scott@xcf.berkeley.edu |                                                    |
|                        | " ****** 33993 unread articles in comp.windows.x,  |
| Flames to /dev/null    |        read now? [ynq] "                           |
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------/