Situational Awareness Behind You
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Hello,
Is there such a thing as a rear facing radar to detect bandits behind you? Obviously not in the F16 but maybe other 5 generation aircraft (F22, F35, SU35)? What other methods do pilots have to maintain situational awareness behind them?
AWACS
RWR - Useless if bandit turns off the radar and receives guidance from the Mainstay A-50
Visual Detection
Link 16??
JTIDS ??
Rear Facing Radar??Thank you
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Well in 5th generation aircraft there is “sensor fusion” in which the aircraft takes sensor information from within (radar, cameras, etc.) and combines this with sensor information from other assets in the field (other fighter’s radars, infrared track and search, AWACS), fuses them and projects them in cockpit and helmet displays so the pilot has a 360° picture of the battlefield, increasing SA to almost 100%.
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Yes there is rear radar. Its call a wingman. Some combat formation put the wingman 10 to 20nm behind the lead. It can be done with F4 ai wingmen.
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The Su-34 has rear facing radar but i don’t think it is implemented in BMS.
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…rear facing radar is like shining a light behind you saying “here I am” to every SAM site in theater.
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Your SA is something you build from a variety of sources you know. A-10 pilots are expected to have SA, and they dont have a radar… so.
Granted, AWACS improvements could stand to make this a whole lot better.