
China military able to detect U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets - guai898
http://en.people.cn/n3/2016/0218/c90000-9018486.html
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ju-st
Quote:

That being said, Russia, China and others are developing advanced UHF and VHF
band early warning radars that use even longer wavelengths in an effort to cue
their other sensors and give their fighters some idea of where an adversary
stealth aircraft might be coming from. But the problem with VHF and UHF band
radars is that with long wavelengths come large radar resolution cells. That
means that contacts are not tracked with the required level of fidelity to
guide a weapon onto a target.

As one U.S. Navy officer rhetorically asked, “Does the mission require a
cloaking device or is it OK if the threat sees it but can’t do anything about
it?”

[http://warisboring.com/articles/how-to-detect-a-stealth-
figh...](http://warisboring.com/articles/how-to-detect-a-stealth-fighter/)

~~~
creshal
> As one U.S. Navy officer rhetorically asked, “Does the mission require a
> cloaking device or is it OK if the threat sees it but can’t do anything
> about it?”

Depends on the mission. And if full stealth is not necessary after all, why
have such an expensive stealth system in the first place?

~~~
Someone1234
How did you go from "can't do anything about it" to "not necessary after all?"
The stealth is what makes the aircraft harder to shoot down, that is what
makes it "necessary."

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Someone1234
F-22 isn't a "stealth fighter" it is a fighter with stealth features to reduce
its radar cross-section and by extension reduce the distance at which it can
be detected.

F-117 and B-2 were attempts at making an actual stealth fighter (completely
radar neutral) and even an F-117 was shot down by a Isayev S-125 in 1999. I'd
imagine China has at least access to that level of technology.

There's also work on infrared detection and optical detection which weren't
possible way-back-when, but with access it inexpensive compute power, might
now be a viable way to track even a radar neutral aircraft.

All I am saying it, I believe them, but I am also unsurprised. Against a
nation like China I wouldn't even trust the B-2 Spirit to remain immune from
interceptors, let alone the F-22, and frankly if China and the US ever went to
war drones and missiles would likely play a greater role than manned fighters.

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6stringmerc
> _...if the unidentified objects appearing near ADIZ over the East China Sea
> turned out to be F-22 from the U.S., it would be a good opportunity for
> China 's military to practice its ability to find, identify and intercept
> stealth fighters._

Please pardon my bit of chuckling, but in the past Chinese Air Force pilots
can't even intercept a prop-plane without hitting the thing. An F-22? Going to
need a lot of practice.

It's nice they can see the F-22 though. It didn't really help in the Middle
East that much[1] years ago with the SR-71. But it's something to feed the
press!

[1] [http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/cargo/19456-fantastic-
sr-7...](http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/cargo/19456-fantastic-
sr-71-story.html)

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woodruffw
Chinese domain, sparse on details, cites "military experts."

Meh.

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jdc0589
this is not horribly surprising. Stealth has always meant "less significant
radar cross-section than you are advanced enough to detect".

Plus, its a plane, with a big ass engine, flying through the sky at hundreds
of miles per hour. There should be other ways to detect the damn things.

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nxzero
Given they stole the full specs years ago, this is not a surprise.

