China achieves invisibility tech breakthrough for early warning aircraft
Air force creates method to render radio signals incomprehensible for enemies attempting to intercept and track aircraft geolocation
Airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft – long considered indispensable yet vulnerable command nodes – have historically been high-value targets. Their powerful radar emissions, while essential for managing the battlespace, make them visible from hundreds of kilometres away.
But the Chinese scientists said they found a way to make AEW&C signals exceptionally resistant to interception and geolocation.
This method assigns each antenna a minutely varied frequency, akin to a hundred singers harmonising the same melody yet each subtly diverging in pitch. This renders the signal chaotic at a distance, obscuring directional origin.
To an adversary trying to track the platform by listening to its radio emissions, the signal could behave like the phantom of the opera – fluctuating, scattering and morphing beyond recognition.
At the heart of this innovation lies a new class of radar system known as frequency diverse array (FDA) technology, which engineers describe as a “paradigm shift” from traditional phased array radars.