[sci.military] IR warning

henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (01/27/91)

From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>From: dnwiebe@cis.ohio-state.edu (Dan N Wiebe)
>... One of the features of
>both of these simulators is a pair of EWRs (one for radar, one for IR)
>each with three warning lights--search, targeting, and guidance...
>... how does the IR thingy work?  I was under the
>impression that IR homing devices are passive, rather than active.

Correct.  I think somebody's gotten carried away.

>How do you tell when IR energy from your aircraft is being absorbed
>by a missile's seeker head, rather than by the ground or air?  Beyond
>that, how do you tell what it's being used for once it's absorbed...

You don't.

>... he says that these IR warning
>devices really do exist...

*Probably* what he is thinking of is a slightly different story.  There
are gadgets that will warn of a missile launch by picking up the IR
emissions of the missile exhaust.  They don't tell you whether it's pointed
at you, or what form of guidance it uses, but a missile fired in your
vicinity is cause for concern regardless of details.
-- 
If the Space Shuttle was the answer,   | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
what was the question?                 |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu   utzoo!henry

gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert) (01/28/91)

From: gwh%soda.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)

In article <1991Jan27.111516.28781@cbnews.att.com> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>>... he says that these IR warning
>>devices really do exist...
>
>*Probably* what he is thinking of is a slightly different story.  There
>are gadgets that will warn of a missile launch by picking up the IR
>emissions of the missile exhaust.  They don't tell you whether it's pointed
>at you, or what form of guidance it uses, but a missile fired in your
>vicinity is cause for concern regardless of details.

This is the case.  US fighters since the F-111 have had rear-looking IR
sensors that look for hot gases (missile exhaust, jet-engine-airplane sneaking
up behind, etc).  The French deploy one such system as part of the launch
rail for their IR missile on the new Mirage 2000's: it looks like a prism
poking out a bit, with sensors inside it.


  == George William Herbert ==   * UNIX ate my last .sig, Waiting for Plan 9! *
 == JOAT for Hire: Anything, ==  #########  I do Naval Architecture, ##########
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