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Helium · 04-25-2008, 02:44 AM

Thanks for all your replys

The idea of this counter measure being employed by a country (Specifically China, Russia etc) is as a political weapon to take away American military superiority by almost mooting or severely limiting a major offensive component in its military force and decreasing hyperpower status. I would see this system being unveiled to the world with lots of press conferences as a form of propaganda to announce to the world that 1. We (as a country) are now a superpower because of our ability to challenge US first strike capability and 2. Marking the end of US Hyperpower status and bringing it on par with your country.

I do not think that it would be a problem tracking the incoming aircraft in terms of numbers. Mainly because if it is the US you are fighting (Today the country with the most stealth aircraft/low observability) you are talking about max 20 B2's to track, in reality 16 max, due to some in repair and backup. Although B1's would be harder to track because of no.s, I think there is something like 50-100, but since the Cold War ended I would say closer to 50 considering reduction. But the idea of the system/satelite is to Identify rather then track, once you know when the attack is coming you get your fighters in the air patroling a general area or guarding an air radius around special interests. If even one of those fighters gets to intercept a B2 on its way to its target, it becomes a major news story especially if you get a video of the fighter jet escorting it out of airspace- even worse if it is done by a 1960's era jet- that would be a major propaganda weapon. The idea is that of detected by the enemy, a B2 or B1 is very vulnerable to being shot down by enemy jets and can only rely on its escorts.

Dont get me wrong, getting to detect the launch of a B2, getting your fighter jets to find and intercept it, getting past escorts and shooting it down is virtually impossible. But if you can identify the launch of a B2 or identify a B2 250 miles off your airspace through heat signature you have achieved the hardest part of defeating a stealth plane, getting a general location and heading of the plane. If you know a B2 is coming, 20 MIGs (sent on a suicide mission) spread out over a large area to intercept it and you only need one air to air missile to get past and you have a relatively cheap counter measure to defeat one of the strongest arrows in your enemies arsenal.

But I guess the major reason for having this system is to moot stealth, and to make it be too much of a risk to send your expensive stealth airplane out to do the mission thus weakening the political ans military prestige of the US.

04-25-2008, 02:44 AM	#6 (permalink)
Helium Regular Join Date: 04-02-08 Posts: 67	add Thanks for all your replys The idea of this counter measure being employed by a country (Specifically China, Russia etc) is as a political weapon to take away American military superiority by almost mooting or severely limiting a major offensive component in its military force and decreasing hyperpower status. I would see this system being unveiled to the world with lots of press conferences as a form of propaganda to announce to the world that 1. We (as a country) are now a superpower because of our ability to challenge US first strike capability and 2. Marking the end of US Hyperpower status and bringing it on par with your country. I do not think that it would be a problem tracking the incoming aircraft in terms of numbers. Mainly because if it is the US you are fighting (Today the country with the most stealth aircraft/low observability) you are talking about max 20 B2's to track, in reality 16 max, due to some in repair and backup. Although B1's would be harder to track because of no.s, I think there is something like 50-100, but since the Cold War ended I would say closer to 50 considering reduction. But the idea of the system/satelite is to Identify rather then track, once you know when the attack is coming you get your fighters in the air patroling a general area or guarding an air radius around special interests. If even one of those fighters gets to intercept a B2 on its way to its target, it becomes a major news story especially if you get a video of the fighter jet escorting it out of airspace- even worse if it is done by a 1960's era jet- that would be a major propaganda weapon. The idea is that of detected by the enemy, a B2 or B1 is very vulnerable to being shot down by enemy jets and can only rely on its escorts. Dont get me wrong, getting to detect the launch of a B2, getting your fighter jets to find and intercept it, getting past escorts and shooting it down is virtually impossible. But if you can identify the launch of a B2 or identify a B2 250 miles off your airspace through heat signature you have achieved the hardest part of defeating a stealth plane, getting a general location and heading of the plane. If you know a B2 is coming, 20 MIGs (sent on a suicide mission) spread out over a large area to intercept it and you only need one air to air missile to get past and you have a relatively cheap counter measure to defeat one of the strongest arrows in your enemies arsenal. But I guess the major reason for having this system is to moot stealth, and to make it be too much of a risk to send your expensive stealth airplane out to do the mission thus weakening the political ans military prestige of the US.