mikeCK -> SA-21 and radar vs JASSM & F-22 (11/17/2016 12:52:02 AM)
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Ok, so this is NOT a criticism about how good a system should be or is. It's NOT A claim that something is a bug or not WAD so please don't take it that way. I'm not particularly knowledgeable about Russian systems and ADA radar in general. I ran through a scenario recently and had a lot of trouble taking out Russian air defense sites. That's not the issue...the issue is HOW I failed and trying to understand how that happened. In both scenarios I had 2 E/A-18g Growlers in the area with OECM active and 6 MALD-Ds active from a recent B-52 launch. Scenario 1, I had two F-22s with all radars off and only internal AAMs flying at 35,000 feet. An SA-21b launch was detected (actually a bunch) from a site and radar in southern Crimea about 150-175 NM from the F-22s and the missiles started heading right for me. I ordered the F-22s to turn perpendicular to the missile vector but they kept tracking. Eventually the missiles struck (1st missile in one case and 2nd in the other) both F-22s and destroyed them. Now, I'm not suggesting that F-22 is invincible or invisible. It is however, the most "stealthy" aircraft in the U.S. Arsenal and significantly less observable than the F-117, B2 or F-35. I'm also not suggesting that the SA-21b system is anything less than an incredibly capable system....far more capable than any SAM system in the west; but I was quite confused as to how the radar was able to detect AND TRACK my F-22s from well over 150nm away. 50nm? Sure...150? Just didn't seem right. So, am I just wrong here in my assumptions? I assume so but what am I missing? Scenario 2 Same fight different area. 2 B-1bs with 24 JASSM-ERs each and an accompanying EA-18g pop up and fire off 48 JASSM-ERa at the 5 radars and 3 vehicles involved in the air defense...still some MALDs in the area. Now, these JASSMs are very low observable and flying at 30ft above the ocean. At 100nm the SA-21bs begin to fire. I also had 3 Mig-31s turn on a vector towards the missiles, get behind them and begin machine gunning them. By the time the JASSMs reached the coast of Crimea a few minutes later, all 48 had been shot down. So same question, how does a ground based radar 100 nm away detect low observable missiles at 30ft altitude. Wouldn't the curvature of the earth prevent that? Also, how are the migs seeing them from 150-Nm away? I should add that the hit probability for the SA-21s was about 75%. The AA-12s used by the Migs was about 80%. I get the latter as IR is IR and it is a missile. Again, I'm not suggesting they are invisible wonder weapons, but low altitude and low observability should get them inside 20-50nm I would think. I wouldn't guess a regular tomahawk would be visible at 30 feet from a ground bases radar 100nm away.
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