rafale
Registered Member
Hi,Trying not to be a d!ck as you have asked this from Oscar but here is my 2cents:
DEtecting and tracking are two different things, you can use longer wavelengths to detect aircrafts at longe ranges but cannot track them good enough to guide a missile to it because longer the wavelength the larger the error in position and range(just like you cannot detect atoms with visible light but use electrons in electron microscope to give you better resolution and less error) which is like mentioning the village/town name but the missile needs the exact house# to reach. Then comes the tracking where another smaller antenna but powerful which emits a small and sharp beams of radio waves to track the target that is lock which means you get target exact range with range ambuigity in centimeters or 1-2 meters, exact cordinates in 3D space, exact altitude also some radars employ Non Coperative Target Recognition which makes a picture from bounced signals to calssify the aircraft whether it is F-16 or some other one based on radar cross section and pattern of returns from engine blades(thats why LO aircrafts hide their engine fan blades in S ducts). Also comes many parameters in both tracking and detection like whether the aircraft is stealth which means they will bounce back the longer wavelengths of detecting radars but will scatter i.e not bounce it back to radar direction the waves of X band tracking radar or is there any Stand Off Jammers working to overload the radar with noise or the Self Protection Jammer of aircraft working to give them false targets and mask itself or trying to break the lock or if the pilot is notching because tracking radars use doppler effects which in notching cancels it also rain, fog and mist lowers the performace and last but not least the radar is working at peak power or lower one, which all affect the radar performance. If even J 10s were detected but there were DA 20s SOJ were working against S-400 also we have Chinese KG-2000(correct me if i am wrong) SPJs integrated with JF-17s and maybe J-10s, so all these systems were working to deny them good fire control solution for missile guidance and lastly flying below radar horizon can mask you from detection. Hope i have answered your question.
P.S: Go and check out Flankerchan on twitter/X as he is well versed in radars and aircarft RCS modelling. He is an Indonesian but very knowledgeable person and recommends very good books on radars, guidance, jamming etc
Dos Vidaniya
I tagged Oscar as generally he has accurate info on Pakistani Radar/AD systems without revealing any opsec related details. Anyone is welcome to reply to my post.
Thanks for sharing, but if PAF was able to defeat S-400's much touted long range (300km+) targeting then does it mean S-400 is ineffective? I would be hard pressed to believe that, but clearly if our AD radars can see Indian aircraft in Indian airspace I am sure Indians can do the same as well. And if they can see PAF scrambling jets, they could also launch their SAMs.
Whole scenario was quite interesting and I guess what actually happened on ground and in the air we would truly never know for a while.







