marcos Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 From another website: Some figures were posted that suggest the maximum range an AWACS can pick up a Gen 4.5 fighter at is about 170km. Then you have AESA radar. This quote followed: Basically the RCS and the radar power/RCS ratio of modern fighter aircraft and the range of modern MRAAMs make AWACS rather like the hot-air balloons used in WWI.
Pilotasso Posted January 17, 2013 Posted January 17, 2013 Im sure AWACS arent just to stand there and look pretty. Anyone can see they have a bigger radar than fighters do, but anyone can express their opinion even if its only dumb ones. :D .
marcos Posted January 18, 2013 Author Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Im sure AWACS arent just to stand there and look pretty. Anyone can see they have a bigger radar than fighters do, but anyone can express their opinion even if its only dumb ones. :D They do, but the point being made was that whilst AWACS had big radars, the planes were were even bigger, and the size advantage of the radar did not counteract the size disadvantage of the plane itself. In days of 15m^2 fighter RCS and less capable LRAAMs, it didn't matter, but now things have changed. EDIT: The other thing to notice from the radar equation is that range is a term to the fourth power and RCS is linear. So a plane with a quarter of the RCS, only has a 30% reduction in detectable range. Edited January 18, 2013 by marcos
Invader ZIM Posted January 18, 2013 Posted January 18, 2013 (edited) Never a stupid question when someone is willing to learn more about a subject. :) Things are not as simple as they seem, the E-3 does get upgrades you know.... http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:HIE4ES0_w40J:www.airforce-technology.com/projects/e3awacs/+&cd=10&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us Boeing, with the electronic sensors and systems division of Northrop Grumman as subcontractor, carried out an E-3 AWACS radar system improvement programme (RSIP) which upgrades the capability of the AN/APY-1/2 against threats from small radar cross section targets, cruise missiles and electronic countermeasures. The improvement in sensitivity against small and stealthy targets is achieved through the installation of a new surveillance radar computer (SRC) to replace the digital Doppler processor and radar correlator, and the translation of the associated software into ADA language. RSIP installation was completed on the Nato (17) and UK (seven) aircraft in 2000, on France (four) in 2006 and on the 33 USAF E-3 AWACS in April 2005. Come to think of it, the E-3's probably get a lot of testing of their radar with the likes of the F-22 and F-35, F117's, and low altitude cruise missiles that have been fired in recent wars that have been around awile I'm guessing ;D Edited January 18, 2013 by Invader ZIM
marcos Posted January 19, 2013 Author Posted January 19, 2013 Interesting. Scan read it but it didn't really specify the performance increase. What you really need is a stealth AWACS.:D
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