China’s heat-seeking radar with 300km range boosts anti-stealth tech, say defence scientists
- Engineers say their small infrared search-and-track system can pick up the heat signature of a fast-moving aircraft from an unusually long distance
- In distant target-searching mode, the radar can scan the entire sky in just a few seconds, faster than most existing heat seekers, the team says
Defence industry engineers in southwestern China have built a small infrared search-and-track system that can pick up the heat signature of a fast-moving aircraft from an unusually long distance, the team says.
The medium-wave infrared system has detected and tracked civil aircraft from a distance of 285km (177 miles), according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed Chinese journal Infrared and Laser Engineering on Friday.
“The outline of the target, the rotor, the tail and the number of engines can be clearly identified from the infrared spectrum image,” said the team led by Liu Zhihui, an electrooptics engineer with defence contractor Sichuan Jiuzhou Electric Group Company.
The heat-seeking radar can also emit a powerful laser beam to illuminate the target aircraft to gather more information, such as the number of windows on the plane, according to the researchers.
Because of its small size, the device can be mounted on a car, aircraft or even satellite for a wide range of applications, including “surveillance, early warning and [missile] guidance,” said Liu and his colleagues.
Long-distance infrared radar technology plays an important role in anti-stealth warfare.
Even as a military aircraft equipped with stealth technology can dodge traditional radar, its body and engines emit heat.
