Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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Interesting report about the evolution of air-to-air combat and a new strategy for the future based upon larger, stealthy SUBSONIC aircraft using a networked small-UAV swarming method:
Trends in Air-to-Air Combat: Implications for Future Air Superiority
April 14, 2015 By John Stillion
https://csbaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Air-to-Air-Report-.pdf
Summary - The U.S. network consists of several long-range Unmanned Combat Air Systems (UCAS) optimized to perform as sensor platforms with modest aerial weapon payloads that are coordinated by a human crew on board a stealthy bomber-size aircraft with a robust sensor suite. They are linked by robust LoS datalinks and have the ability to fuse information from offboard sources and their own sensor outputs, as illustrated by Figure 19. Tactically this concept is a marked departure from past and current practice in aerial combat, but seems worthy of further investigation as it extends the trends identified earlier in this report into the future.
Other interesting excerpts from the above report:
The most widely cited unclassified source gives F-35 RCS as equal to a metal golf ball and the F-22 as the same as a metal marble. Using standard values for marbles and golf balls these figures equate to about -29 and -37 dB (sm) respectively. See Warplanes: F-22 Stealth Ability Revealed by USAF, Strategy Page, available at https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20051125.aspx
accessed August 1, 2014.
Infra-Red Search and Track Systems (IRSTS)
Over the past two decades, IRSTS have proliferated to the point where most current production combat aircraft have this capability. IRSTS were first developed during World War II, and early versions were fitted to U.S. fighters designed in the late 1950s including the F-106, F-101B, and early versions of the F-4. They fell out of favor with Western fighter designers as unnecessary during the 1970s and 1980s when the West enjoyed a commanding lead over the Soviet Union in fighter radar and electronic warfare technology. The Soviets incorporated them into both the MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, which entered service in the early 1980s. The Europeans have incorporated them into the Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale. The Russians continue to refine their IRSTS, and the Chinese have integrated them into their latest combat aircraft as well. Today, the Navy is developing an IRSTS built into the front of F/A-18E/F centerline fuel tanks, allowing it to be fitted to existing aircraft.
There are several reasons for the renewed interest in IRSTS. One is their immunity to Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) jamming techniques that can badly degrade radar performance.56 Another is their ability to detect and track stealth aircraft with reduced radio frequency (RF) signatures.
IRSTS detection range is determined by a number of factors, including atmospheric attenuation, seeker sensitivity, sensor aperture size, target size, and the square of the difference in target temperature and the temperature of the surrounding environment.57 The blue line in Figure 17 shows how aircraft leading-edge temperature increases with aircraft speed. Ambient temperature between 37,000 and 80,000 feet of altitude on a standard day is -70° F. The leading edges of an aircraft flying at Mach 0.8 are heated by friction to -21° F. As aircraft speed increases, skin temperatures rise rapidly. For example, a fighter aircraft traveling at Mach 1.8 would have leading edge temperatures of 182° F.58 Increasing leading-edge temperatures by 200 degrees increases the probability of being detected by IR sensors.
Aircraft flying at supersonic speeds also produce shock waves of highly compressed, and therefore heated, air. Figure 18 shows how large these Mach cones are relative to the aircraft creating them.
The combination of a sudden increase in target area with the formation of the Mach cone and increase in temperature accounts for the jump in warning time shown on the red line in Figure 17.59 As a target aircraft accelerates from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1, a Mach cone forms around the aircraft with a temperature of about 8° F. This rapidly heats the aircrafts leading edges to the same temperature while increasing the frontal target area presented to the sensor about ten times. IR range equation calculations show this more than doubles the range the
aircraft can be detected. Warning time for the aircraft with the IR sensor is increased by only about 70 percent, because the aircraft at Mach 1 can cross the doubled detection range about 25 percent faster than an aircraft at Mach 0.8. Increased IR detection range has the additional disadvantage of dramatically increasing the size of the area a supersonic aircraft can be detected. Table 4 gives results of IR detection calculations for target aircraft speeds between Mach 0.8 and Mach 2.2.
TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF FIRST GULF WAR AERIAL VICTORIES <- very ineteresting info
TABLE 2. U.S. MISSILE PERFORMANCE IN VIETNAM AND THE FIRST GULF WAR <- very ineteresting info
Interesting F-22 info:
https://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Raptor.html
F-35 weapons bay photos:
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*-z8ksnuiBHCnN1pf7tJ_Dw.jpeg
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*nq_KeF3X8UfP-bG62ypoqw.jpeg
Trends in Air-to-Air Combat: Implications for Future Air Superiority
April 14, 2015 By John Stillion
https://csbaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Air-to-Air-Report-.pdf
Summary - The U.S. network consists of several long-range Unmanned Combat Air Systems (UCAS) optimized to perform as sensor platforms with modest aerial weapon payloads that are coordinated by a human crew on board a stealthy bomber-size aircraft with a robust sensor suite. They are linked by robust LoS datalinks and have the ability to fuse information from offboard sources and their own sensor outputs, as illustrated by Figure 19. Tactically this concept is a marked departure from past and current practice in aerial combat, but seems worthy of further investigation as it extends the trends identified earlier in this report into the future.
Other interesting excerpts from the above report:
The most widely cited unclassified source gives F-35 RCS as equal to a metal golf ball and the F-22 as the same as a metal marble. Using standard values for marbles and golf balls these figures equate to about -29 and -37 dB (sm) respectively. See Warplanes: F-22 Stealth Ability Revealed by USAF, Strategy Page, available at https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20051125.aspx
accessed August 1, 2014.
Infra-Red Search and Track Systems (IRSTS)
Over the past two decades, IRSTS have proliferated to the point where most current production combat aircraft have this capability. IRSTS were first developed during World War II, and early versions were fitted to U.S. fighters designed in the late 1950s including the F-106, F-101B, and early versions of the F-4. They fell out of favor with Western fighter designers as unnecessary during the 1970s and 1980s when the West enjoyed a commanding lead over the Soviet Union in fighter radar and electronic warfare technology. The Soviets incorporated them into both the MiG-29 and Su-27 fighters, which entered service in the early 1980s. The Europeans have incorporated them into the Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale. The Russians continue to refine their IRSTS, and the Chinese have integrated them into their latest combat aircraft as well. Today, the Navy is developing an IRSTS built into the front of F/A-18E/F centerline fuel tanks, allowing it to be fitted to existing aircraft.
There are several reasons for the renewed interest in IRSTS. One is their immunity to Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM) jamming techniques that can badly degrade radar performance.56 Another is their ability to detect and track stealth aircraft with reduced radio frequency (RF) signatures.
IRSTS detection range is determined by a number of factors, including atmospheric attenuation, seeker sensitivity, sensor aperture size, target size, and the square of the difference in target temperature and the temperature of the surrounding environment.57 The blue line in Figure 17 shows how aircraft leading-edge temperature increases with aircraft speed. Ambient temperature between 37,000 and 80,000 feet of altitude on a standard day is -70° F. The leading edges of an aircraft flying at Mach 0.8 are heated by friction to -21° F. As aircraft speed increases, skin temperatures rise rapidly. For example, a fighter aircraft traveling at Mach 1.8 would have leading edge temperatures of 182° F.58 Increasing leading-edge temperatures by 200 degrees increases the probability of being detected by IR sensors.
Aircraft flying at supersonic speeds also produce shock waves of highly compressed, and therefore heated, air. Figure 18 shows how large these Mach cones are relative to the aircraft creating them.
The combination of a sudden increase in target area with the formation of the Mach cone and increase in temperature accounts for the jump in warning time shown on the red line in Figure 17.59 As a target aircraft accelerates from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1, a Mach cone forms around the aircraft with a temperature of about 8° F. This rapidly heats the aircrafts leading edges to the same temperature while increasing the frontal target area presented to the sensor about ten times. IR range equation calculations show this more than doubles the range the
aircraft can be detected. Warning time for the aircraft with the IR sensor is increased by only about 70 percent, because the aircraft at Mach 1 can cross the doubled detection range about 25 percent faster than an aircraft at Mach 0.8. Increased IR detection range has the additional disadvantage of dramatically increasing the size of the area a supersonic aircraft can be detected. Table 4 gives results of IR detection calculations for target aircraft speeds between Mach 0.8 and Mach 2.2.
TABLE 1. SUMMARY OF FIRST GULF WAR AERIAL VICTORIES <- very ineteresting info
TABLE 2. U.S. MISSILE PERFORMANCE IN VIETNAM AND THE FIRST GULF WAR <- very ineteresting info
Interesting F-22 info:
https://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Raptor.html
F-35 weapons bay photos:
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*-z8ksnuiBHCnN1pf7tJ_Dw.jpeg
https://d262ilb51hltx0.cloudfront.net/max/2000/1*nq_KeF3X8UfP-bG62ypoqw.jpeg
