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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   35891 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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Have to admit I was expecting a link to some Russian wunderwaffen instead of a 1980s tracker that can be completely foiled by turning your radar off (like anti-radiation missiles haven't been a thing for decades).

a) no, it can't. These systems work by comparing reflections of second hand sources, e.g. navigation beacons, etc.

I imagine the assessments of Russian IADS have changed somewhat since then.

After some embarrassment (e.g. entirely avoidable losses due to Bayraktars), Ukraine doesn't dare to fly their jets above treetop height. The only one who has done so was Russia, and even then in a neighboring country (Belarus).

but whether NATO forces could do so quickly enough to avoid defeat on the ground

Since Russia is unlikely to be attacking, that'd mean NATO, to fight, in response to a desperate Russian move, would have to cross the border into Russia to engage in a ground fight. Russia doesn't have any tactical artillery nuclear shells, but it probably does have lots of tactical nuclear warheads on short range rockets.

I'm not sure how enthusiastic NATO would be about advancing out of the Baltics while dodging nukes daily.

Easy to confuse them, but no, Tamara is a PET (passive ESM tracker) while the systems using second-hand sources like TV broadcasts are PCL (passive coherent location). PET does rely on you having your radar turned on.

I didn't mean TAMARA but the general class of systems. Almost certainly that's not the only such system in existence as both Russia and China have a very strong interest in detecting stealth planes.

PET does rely on you having your radar turned on.

Yeah, because the many electronic and electric systems in a plane have no emissions whatsoever, right ?

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