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Somewhat offtopic, but I'd be interested in an answer. Do non-military planes have some kind of missile detection capabilites? Like: Did the pilots know what
by martin_a 7y ago
Somewhat offtopic, but I'd be interested in an answer.
Do non-military planes have some kind of missile detection capabilites?
Like: Did the pilots know what was about to happen or that something was approaching them with high speed and whatnot or were they just blown out of the sky without the slightest idea?
- kreft 7y agoEl-Al planes do. "Since the early 2000s, El Al has been the only commercial airline to fit its planes with systems to defend against anti-aircraft missiles." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Onboard_missile_defense_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Onboard_missile_defense_...
- mkagenius 7y agoAnd how difficult it is to identify a civilian plane vs a weapon? Few months back India shot down its own Helicopter and now Iran shot a whole air plane. And they spend gigantic amount of money on defense. How lacking is the technology!
- chii 7y ago> And how difficult it is to identify a civilian plane vs a weapon? if there is such a way, then your enemy planes can just as easily masquerade as a civilian craft and evade the missile!
- mkagenius 7y ago> easily masquerade as a civilian craft How does one do that easily?
- martin_a 7y agoWell, if it's only some "signature" that is broadcasted (or not), one could flip a switch and appear as a civilian aircraft.
- Nasrudith 7y agoThe way to make do it work is that a civilian profile would utterly suck as a missle - pbviously 9-11 demonstrated limitations of it. Air traffic control messages and flight paths could help with that but there are complications - especially when sending out radio communication could light themselves up as a target. Theoretically fiber optics and dedicated communication towers could separate the functions but there would be considerable logistical implications to that and well - even first world nations with a large military budget don't put that high of a priority on avoiding collateral damage.
- pjc50 7y agoNo - and in any case there isn't anything they can do if they are targeted, they don't have active countermeasures, the airframe can't handle evasive maneuvers, and they have a huge heat/radar signature. It's .. not a problem the civilian manufacturers should be attempting to solve.
- kijin 7y agoAir Force One is based on a civilian airframe. Of course the Hollywood movie was full of exaggerations, but I wouldn't be surprised if the actual Air Force One was reinforced in some ways to afford a certain level of protection for its precious cargo. How much could Boeing, for example, modify one of their civilian airframes to support active countermeasures and make it capable of withstanding more stressful maneuvers without altering the outside too much? Quite a lot, I would think.
- avh02 7y agoair force one and some El Al planes were/are fitted with countermeasures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Onboard_missile_defense_systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al#Onboard_missile_defense_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_VC-25 >All wiring is covered with heavy shielding for protection from a nuclear electromagnetic pulse in the event of a nuclear attack. The aircraft also has electronic countermeasures (ECMs) to jam enemy radar, flares to avoid heat-seeking missiles, and chaff to avoid radar-guided missiles
- 7y ago
- Chris2048 7y agoI always find it funny in sci-fi: "their missiles have locked on to us!"
- leetcrew 7y agoeven if the missile isn't using active guidance (ie laser/radar), it's pretty easy to detect anything with an engine in space. there aren't a lot of other explanations for a small object on an intercept course for your ship at high acceleration.
- krapp 7y agoObligatory link to the "There Ain't No Stealth In Space" article at Project Rho[0]. [0]http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect....
- saberdancer 7y agoI'm not sure if this is true, if the missile is coming head on. If it is made in a stealthy way, the "head" of the missile could obscure the engine area and make the plume invisible to the target. Having low RCS alongside with hidden plume could make a passively targetted missile relatively stealthy to the target. Ofcourse, anyone with enough offset to the target would be able to easily detect the engine and thermal release but the target could be unaware. Another method to hide it is if missile uses some kind of obstacle in order to accelerate behind, for example you fire your missiles and they accelerate when a moon or a planet break line of sight from the target to the missiles. This would make their acceleration burn invisible to the target and could get them very close without being noticed.
- leetcrew 7y agoif you're curious about this topic, I highly recommend checking out the webpage linked in the sibling comment, "There Ain't No Stealth in Space" if you're curious about this topic. tl;dr: it's exceedingly difficult to hide anything that consumes power in space. the rcs thrusters would either be too weak to achieve the delta v to hit the target, or the friction from the thrust against the nozzle would unstealth the missile. even the radiation from the onboard computer would likely stand out against the cosmic background. a missile like you describe could potentially evade current detection systems, but would almost certainly be detected by any civilization where ship-to-ship space combat is feasible. and not in a handwavy future tech way, but just from extrapolating current tech. I highly recommend checking out that page. it makes for a great read.