Paradox Posted July 11, 2016 Posted July 11, 2016 I have often wondered about TACAN providing both range and bearing in 3 dimensions from a transmitter mounted on an aeroplane and I never found anything that explained how it would work and it seemed to me that such a system would be very bulky and heavy using 1970's technology unless I was misunderstanding something TURNS OUT IT DOESN'T Mystery over! What's the KC-10 equipped with then? Does it have a special system or does it use normal TACAN equipment that you might find an an airbase in a special compartment on the plane and they just deal with the consequences regarding size and weight?
Eddie Posted July 12, 2016 Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) What's the KC-10 equipped with then? Does it have a special system or does it use normal TACAN equipment that you might find an an airbase in a special compartment on the plane and they just deal with the consequences regarding size and weight? Not so much a special system, just a different one. The KC-135 and most tactical aircraft use either the same TACAN set installed in the F-5E/A-10C etc. or the MIDS LVT for their TACAN functionality. These systems are only capable of sending the non directional ranging pulses. The KC-10 and some other tankers (the now retired UK Tristar and VC-10 amongst them) have TACAN sets (AN/ARN-153(V) for the KC-10) able to transmit both the raging pulses and the directional beam required to derive bearing. Essentially it all boils down to the fact that bearing is dependant on only a received signal, whereas range requires both a transmitted and a received signal to calculate distance using speed/time calculations. Bearing is based on the time delta between the receiving the ranging pulse from the transmitting station and receiving the bearing beam from the transmitting station, the more time that passes between the two, the larger your bearing to the station (the bearing pulse rotates clockwise starting at 000 degrees when the range pulse is transmitted). Range is based on the timing of a range pulse being sent out, received by the other station, and then a reply sent back. So requires no directional signal. Edited July 12, 2016 by Eddie Spelling edit 1
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