Of DAS, EOTS etc..

[luke_sandoz]

Sweetman is only a month late with that, this was posted early last month.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... -4-413070/
15:54 3 Jun 2015
Sensor upgrades top USAF wish list for F-35 Block 4
Upgrading the Lockheed electro-optical targeting system and adding a wide-area high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) mode – dubbed “– Big SAR” to the Northrop Grumman APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) are must-haves, says Gen Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, chief of Air Combat Command.

Sweetman is a lifetime late. And he will never catch up.

[SpudmanWP]

The current Block 4 (parts 1-4) seem to be what the old Block 4/5 (in time and features) covered.

OLD



NEW

[spazsinbad]

Thanks 'Dragon029' for the artickle and thanks 'SWP' for the BLOCK comparison - interesting eh. I wonder what the now FUTURE BLOCKs after FOUR look like?

[uclass]

What frequency bands does the EOTS IRST function operate on BTW?

[playloud]

I hate to see the expanded internal AA upgrades listed so far down the road.

[charlielima223]

Does anyone have an idea what are the two nodes are forward of the cockpit?

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

part of EODAS

[Dragon029]

EODAS right, MADL antenna left.

[rpg83]

Disclaimer: Some of my questions probably fall into the OPSEC but even an (un)educated guess would be much appreciated.

Let's say there is a downed aircrew. Pararescuemen (or their equivalent in allied nations' air forces) will parachute into the area from a regular transport plane supported by a pair of F-35As.

Question 1: Does the F-35 automatically track the men jumping from the transport plane?

I would imagine that human body is trackable, but at the same time I think it would be pretty hard for the algorithms to classify the track (people don't fly, you know?). Alternatively, the track might be dismissed because you cannot warn the pilot about every man on the battlefield - that is way too much information - as most of them pose little to no risk to a jet fighter.

Anyway, the track would probably be dropped pretty quickly because apparently even this computer age doesn't allow us to track every tree, rock, deer and other IR-reflecting object on the ground. Correct me if I am wrong.

Additionally, I think that the EO-DAS might have difficulties detecting small and/or low temperature and/or distant objects, especially in adverse weather conditions. If the transport plane itself had to be tracked by the EOTS (instead of the EO-DAS), wouldn't it be difficult for the computer to decide whether to override the original command to track the transport plane and change to new tracks? I have to admit that my thinking might be flawed here because the transport plane could probably be tracked by radar and other means as well.

In the end it is all about algorithms, I guess, but how adaptive are they? There are only so many situations you can program the computer for.

Question 2: Is it feasible to track a man on the ground from a CTOL jet fighter? Obviously this is heavily dependent on the terrain but let's assume the area is reasonably wooded. Can the track be maintained as it would be with a helicopter?

[spazsinbad]

DAS and BACN Passive Stereo Ballistic Missile Tracking
Published on Sep 10, 2015 Northrop Grumman

"In November 2013, Northrop Grumman successfully demonstrated three dimensional battlespace awareness, detecting,
identifying, fusing and tracking the trajectory of a rocket launched from NASA wallops Island."

[popcorn]

I wonder if they were using MADL?

[spazsinbad]

The screenshot is not very good. If you click on it and zoom in on the right hand side you will see 'LINK 16' data stream between aircraft. The screenshot has been edited in an attempt to make that text more clear so it is now placed here.

[hornetfinn]

What frequency bands does the EOTS IRST function operate on BTW?

Midwave Infrared (MWIR), same as DAS. That's the frequency band mainly used by pretty much all high performance FLIR and IRST systems.

[spazsinbad]

May as well put this PDF here - been meaning to post it for a day or so...

Technical article: metrological effects of fog and rain upon IR camera performance

"Although thermal imaging cameras can see in total darkness, through light fog, light rain and snow, the distance they can see is affected by these atmospheric conditions. Even in clear skies, inherent atmospheric absorption places limits on how far a particular infrared camera can see. A thermal imaging camera produces an image based on the differences in thermal radiation that an object emits. In essence, the farther this infrared signal has to travel from the target to the camera, the more of that signal can be lost along the way...."

Source: http://source.theengineer.co.uk/Journal ... 001_EN.pdf

[popcorn]

Thanks eagle eyes.
Limk 16 it is, dashing any small hope of gauging MADL's range.