Posted on 06/04/2014 1:17:47 PM PDT by pabianice
On June 2, an Iranian military Mi-17 helicopter flew over the desert east of Tehran toward one of the most secretive facilities belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The helicopter landed in a remote area near two buildings surrounded by huge wire nets. Guests disembarked.
Brig. Gen. Farzad Ismaeli, commander of Iran’s air-defense force, and several masked IRGC personnel, waited to introduce a new radar system—one that could be able to detect American stealth warplanes at long range.
Ismaeli described the complex of wire nets and buildings as the Ghadir radar, Iran’s first operational over-the-horizon sensor. OTH radars can detect stealthy and small targets at very long ranges, regardless of the target’s altitude.
It’s a capability that promises to dramatically improve Iran’s ability to detect and defend against an aerial attack, potentially altering the military balance of power in the Persian Gulf.
For years, OTH radars have formed the back bone of territorial defense for the world’s superpowers. The United States currently operates an OTH radar network that can spot target as far as 3,000 kilometers from U.S. shores.
Australia, a potential target of Chinese strategic bombers, has the new Jindalee OTH sensor, with a similar range.
To achieve such incredible performance, OTH radars take advantage of a unique natural phenomenon. Instead of emitting radio waves directly into the target space, OTH radars blast very long wave pulses into the ionosphere.
Waves of certain frequencies bounce back down to the target area, enabling the radar to look at objects from above and identify them even behind ground terrain such as hills and mountains.
In addition to detecting stealth warplanes, OTH radars can also pick out ballistic missiles and even satellites in low orbit. Their long range makes them impervious to small-scale attacks by anti-radiation missiles and jammers.
On the down side, OTH radars are bulky, immobile and imprecise. The distance error in detecting a typical target can be as high as a kilometer. OTH radars also need enormous power sources. Ghadir radar. FARS News photo
Compared to other countries’ OTH radars, Ghadir seems to possess modest performance. Ismaeli claimed it has an 1,100-kilometer range and a maximum detection altitude of 300 kilometers.
Ghadir has four transmitters for 360-degree coverage, but given the huge amount of energy they require, it’s not clear that all four can broadcast at once. The phased-array layout closely resembles the Soviet Duga-3 radar near Chernobyl, perhaps indicating a fairly old-style design.
Ismaeli announced a plan to construct a more powerful OTH radar called Sepehr that could feature a 3,000-kilometer range.
Ghadir is unlikely to survive very long in an intensive war with the United States, but in the case of a limited engagement such as an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the OTH radar could help Iran organize its defenses.
The sensor would likely recognize an aerial strike package long before it reached Iranian borders, giving people enough time to evacuate essential facilities, alerting air-defense crews and prompting the air force to launch defensive fighters.
Ghadir should be able to cover all of Saudi Arabia. The more powerful Sepehr could also detect targets inside Israel. Both systems could prove a boon to Iran’s ally Syria.
The United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia have no way of countering the new radar short of a full-scale attack. America has poured much of its military research effort into stealth aircraft, but OTH radars by their nature negate the stealth advantage.
And how does the installation operate after say a cruise missile?
These are complete fabrications. Just like their Photoshopped rockets.
So 1990’s
Cell phone towers and acoustical receivers to detect the high pitch spin of Jet engines is the way to go.
Nothing that an EMP can take out anyway.
The Iranians have gaydar now.
Iran, nor anyone else for that matter, has such capability.
OTH RADAR than can detect US Stealth.
“And how does the installation operate after say a cruise missile?”
The Russians claim that the new anti-air system they installed in Syria can take out cruise missiles and low flying F-16’s. It seems that both would be very hard targets. But the Israelis have not struck the new nuclear reactor that has been constructed near the old one they struck. (Either it isn’t finished due to he war or the missiles can indeed do the job.)
Israeli strikes in Syria have been by glide-bombs launched at very high altitude inside Lebanon. So, either the Israelis have decided the system works as advertised or they simply don’t want to take any risks. Also, the glide bombs have been more than adequate for trikes 100 miles inside Syria.
The point is, new technology around high value targets could, potentially, have negated much of the value of the current (slow and non-stealth) cruise missiles.
I believe nothing Iran, the coward in chief’s buddies.
Bull. If it emits an electromagnetic pulse and receives an echo, it can be jammed or spoofed.
“but OTH radars by their nature negate the stealth advantage.”
Bullpucky.
Over-the-horizon radar is one thing. Fire control radar is something totally different. So you can detect a stealth aircraft. Try locking a weapon onto it.
The important thing in our favor is that the dumb camel jockies believe it.
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