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Originally Posted by wabpilot
No it does not. Depending on the missile, the AA10, MICA and AMRAAM NCADE don't use radar at all. The AIM-120 has three modes of guidance. Active, which means it takes its guidance from its onboard radar. Semi-active, which means it takes its guidance from an offboard radar. Or, RF, which means it takes guidance from the targets radio frequency emissions, normally radar. The AMRAAM NCADE will have an infared seeker like the AIM-9. In the active mode, the AIM-120 needs only a brief radar illumination from the host aircraft for a successful launch and flight. In the semi-active mode the host has to continuously illuminate the target for the missile to kill it. Given the range of the AIM-120, US radars are optimized for detection quickly without unnecessarily giving away too much counter target information. More powerful radar would just assure the enemy had a better RWR fix, and add nothing to the probability of a successful missile launch.
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Okay I am a bit confused now.So will just try to um it up.First lets talk about AIM-120 A,B,C, Mica and AA-10.
Amraam ,Mica , R77 as is other active missiles use 3 types of guidance sequentially.This is how it happens as far as I know it and as it is given in all sorts of aviation books,journals and internet sites I have read.
First the radar detects the target.It needs some sweeps of the target to build up a good picture and make a track file.Newer radars need lesser scans, have better resolution and can scan more volume and faster than older generation slotted arrays to make a good track file fast.Now when you want to deploy an active missile , you dont need to "lock on" but is sufficient even if you are just tracking the target.1st the ARH will fly out on inertial guidance based on the last location obtained by the
radar.After some time the missiles datalink port is activated[time bound feature, can be preset,can also be active even while on inertial course].And the missile's direction is radio corrected..again based on the data povided by the
radar.Only when the missile is within 10-15 kms of the target the active seeker will fire up and from there on the missile is autonomous or truely fire and forget.
Now AA10[R,RE] is not an active radar missile.But its an semiactive one.It cannot be fired when the radar is in TWS but the radar must be in a lock on mode the entire time the missile is in flight.So the entire time the flight of the R27 depends on the
radar.Once the lock is gone during the flight , the missile is effectively "lost".So AA-10 has to use a radar
at all stages.
I say again that in all cases the radar with better resolution[which is dependent on power but not necessarily raw power]will be able to detect track and send the missiles on their way faster than opposing lower powered radars.
The RF guidance you are saying about the Amraam is the seeker.Before the seeker is activated, still it has to have radar guidance for its first two phases of flight.Provided that launch doesnt take place too near the target aircraft,and since you said "Given the range of the AIM-120, US radars are optimized for detection quickly without unnecessarily giving away too much counter target information." that gives me some idea about Amraam engagement range.
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It depends on which F-18 you are talking about. The F-18E/F has a RCS roughly the same as Rafale or Typhoon and much smaller than any competing Russian offerings.
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Agreed.
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Unfortunately, the Su-30 emits so much RF that all the RAM in the world won't hide that thing.
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Agreed again.But the question here is RAM sufficient enough to reduce the RCS by 3/4 times as said by Sukhoi?Maybe they included other systems?As it is there is no dearth of any room on that big airframe.Okay this is getting too much speculatory , so will end it here.Suffice to say Su-30 is comparable to the likes of F-15 and not to F-18 or Rafale or Typhoon.
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Simply being able to launch a weapon without lighting off the radar.
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Well only if
1.you are getting target information from another buddy by data linking
2.Or you are launching it from close enough range so that the seeker goes active right from the start
3.Maybe getting the data from AWACS feed[R-77 ,Mica havent got this feature,AIm-120 A,B havent, not so sure about Aim-120 C]
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Obviously an AIM-9 can be silent launched, although the PK can be increased by radar slaving the AIM-9, but it's not necessary.
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Yes agreed IR missiles are a whole different ballgame.
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The French MICA can be silent launched and is quite effective without any radar emissions.
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I think all ARH can be silent launched as you say it whereby the seeker goes active before launch.Another element of surprise is that since you are only just tracking the bogey and not "locking "him the opponent can be caught off guard.Ofcourse all modern RWRs will detect an incoming ARH when ever its seeker goes online.
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The old AIM-54C was the champ of long range silent launches. Our initial IRST was not always reliable, but the TCS solved that problem, at the cost of some range. Still, we could launch on a target about sixty miles out without ever lighting off the radar. Nasty little trick. When we got the combined IRST/TCS on the last of the F-14s, we got our range back. And we went from nasty to very nasty.
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Sixty miles!Good God.Where from did you get targetting information at those ranges Sir?
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Today, none of our missiles have the kind of range the AIM-54 had. I would not want to be solely dependent on RF guidance. Still, it puts Ivan in a bind. If he lights off his radar, he gets killed by an AIM-120C or MICA. If he turns it off, the slammer goes active and now Ivan is blind and turning for his life. If Ivan is facing a MICA, he probably doesn't know it until the fire warning horn goes off. Either way, it's not good to be Ivan.
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Ivan also has his own toys you know..