Are you sure those rocket tracking systems are not radar-based or at least assisted? Perhaps transponder-based as well? If I need to track a rocket, my #1 choice is going to be radar. We track satellites via radar. Given X, Y, and Z coordinates of the rocket, the TV camera can be pointed and focused.
I don't want to break OPSEC, but we knew of, and practiced, methods to break an IR lock. It wasn't hard to do. It was MUCH harder to break or spoof a good X-band radar.
Overall, you make some fine points. All I can say in conclusion to IR as a tool designed to detect, track, and eventually engage the enemy, is that the USA has tried it, rejected it, tried it again, ad infinitum, as the technology progresses. And in the end, we've rejected it in favor of active and passive RF systems that don't care about weather, smoke, or dust.
I think that an updated system based upon acoustics has a good chance of success, more so than IR.
I don't want to break OPSEC, but we knew of, and practiced, methods to break an IR lock. It wasn't hard to do. It was MUCH harder to break or spoof a good X-band radar.
Overall, you make some fine points. All I can say in conclusion to IR as a tool designed to detect, track, and eventually engage the enemy, is that the USA has tried it, rejected it, tried it again, ad infinitum, as the technology progresses. And in the end, we've rejected it in favor of active and passive RF systems that don't care about weather, smoke, or dust.
I think that an updated system based upon acoustics has a good chance of success, more so than IR.
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