When you mention comms do you include data links in your definition?
So ideally, in the context of the present discussion, a vehicle would have Starstreak to engage UAS as high as 10/15,000 feet, a 30mm auto cannon to engage targets flying much lower and closer and a IR alerting device [ADADs] but it would not need a dedicated jammer because a radar with the proper software can jam a target's comns? Also do only dedicated search radats have the capability to jam.comms or also fire control radars?
Let's build a radar, shall we?
First, we need some data to transmit - so we buy an FPGA. An FPGA is essentially a block of transistors, logic gates, logic components, and data storage components, from which we can build pretty much anything digital.
We make it transmit a strong signal in one frequency in set intervals, and receive and analyze between transmission intervals.
Then, we need to turn this from bits into radio frequency. So you buy a crystal, like the one in your watch, and an amplifier.
Finally, we need an antenna. AESA is the final word but it's essentially just chunks of metal arranged very neatly.
Our AESA is an array of 1,000 mini antennas that I can control from a computer. In this case, our FPGA.
Through sequencing the transmissions from those antennas, I can achieve all sorts of beam shapes and scan patterns.
I say the top 200 are going to search for targets, and will do that until the end of days.
Then 300 below it will focus on specific, located targets. They won't scan, just focus on the location where we found a target.
If we have missiles, we can let the radar guide them for a while. So 50 mini antennas are transmitting instead of one value, different values, this time modulated in some way, to create data.
The remaining 450 antennas can do other things. They can communicate information back and forth to friendlies, or they can intercept enemy comms.
In our project, we make them detect through power measurements the signals coming to the UAS, and then transmit utter gibberish in those same frequencies but with much more power than the enemy. And down he goes.
About 99% of this wall of text was me talking about how you can play around with certain hardware, but in the end it's just very simple hardware, most of which a civilian can buy on the market, or build DIY-style. How you play with it is what determines what it is, not how you built the metals.
For example, when we look at Russian air defense systems, they often have multiple radars even on the low level systems, where each radar has a set function. But when you look at western systems, you see that other than the highest tier ones, many are using what's called multi-function radars. Those are radars that are searching, tracking, and guiding, all at the same time.
rusi.org
