How does a Radar-Warning-System (RWR) identify whether a bandit has successfully gained a radar lock?

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I understand how you’d detect lasing but not radar lock, especially at the distances and intensities involved (like I’m familiar with how an NMR machine works but I cannot correlate it with RWR).

MAWS also make sense – you’re scanning with radar or laser or IR and use doppler effects to notice something is moving towards you.

In: Engineering

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The radars on fighter jets work in two ways.

One is the familiar one used for detection and awareness, where a ping is sent in a general direction and reflections received.

But then there’s a targeting mode, where it’s actually closer to a laser than the traditional radar mode. A tight, powerful beam is sent at the target to get a strong signal back, from that singular target. A Target Lock.

The second one is what the RWR detects, because it’s very distinct from just the general EM background and other radar noise.

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