user4455

Seems to me if I want to fly a large distance and then easily lock my laser onto a target, then this is something that can't be promised in every situation. Maybe later I'll post a more detailed question, but I can't dwell on this right now... Thanks for the answers though.

Perhaps I should have indicated I meant only stationary ground targets with relation to the plane, and not the workings of the plane's radar and computers. You say GPS is used, and I might have guessed as much, but doing reading on the various ways a plane tries to prevent sending out signals from itself in order to remain silent in the air... I have no clue how such data transmission is effected. I saw an interesting program on the military tv network, describing a new type of ground based heavy gun which shoots a large bullet designed to detonate at a given distance to the target, to either penetrate walls and explode inside a room, or to detonate in case of missing the target and prevent over-shooting. The bullet knows when to trigger by rotating fast, somehow recognizing how many times it cuts through the earth's magnetic field gradient or whatever... I was wondering if fighter jets could possibly use the same thing in any targeting, or something similar.... but probably not. I was wondering how the plane receives this information so that you could aim the HUD towards the known target, and in the distance have it locked automatically by the laser, and just fire off the missile.

Does anyone know how the coordinates of a target and the plane are derived? And to what accuracy?

Ok, well a fighter jet should have a certain resolution when detecting heat signatures inbound, I was just wondering how this distributes to the sensors. I would have thought they would be visible on the plane or at least described somewhere in some documentation but I didn't find anything. I don't know how complex such a system of detecting IR and radar emissions would be, how much machinery would actually be needed on the plane for that.

Sensors - forgot to add Also, when the jet detects radar emissions onto it, how are the sensors that detect this mounted so they provide information about the source?

Hello, I have been reading on wikipedia about the operating principles of the sensors for detecting incoming missiles: radar-based, IR, and also UV. Nowhere can I find out how these sensors are distributed on the plane. I am assuming that the IR detection is available in every direction. And if an IR signature is directly behind the plane, do its own engines not interefere at all with the sensor? Thanks