Iran has acquired top line Chinese military tech that can detect our stealth aircraft.
China’s YLC-8B Radar Transfer to Iran Could Rewrite Middle East Airpower and End Stealth Dominance
The reported deployment of China’s long-range YLC-8B anti-stealth radar in Iran signals a strategic shift in Middle Eastern air defense architecture, directly challenging U.S. and Israeli reliance on fifth-generation stealth aircraft and reshaping regional deterrence dynamics.
https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/china-ylc-8b-radar-iran-anti-stealth-middle-east-air-defense/
Venezuela had similarly acquired top-line ‘counter stealth’ Chinese radars that could detect stealthy/low-observable aircraft. It didn’t help them much though, and it’s doubtful the Chinese systems Iran have in their integrated air defense systems will help them either.
The issue with detecting stealth is this: it is possible to detect stealth/stealthy aircraft. Any relatively-advanced nation has the ability to detect low-observable aircraft. Radars in the UHF and VHF bands can detect LO aircraft. Even some old radars (again in UHF/VHF) in principle produce a detectable return from stealth platforms because the aircraft’s physical dimensions begin to approach the radar’s wavelength, inducing resonance effects that partially defeat shaping-based RCS reduction.
The problem though is not the detection, but to actually be able to use that for targeting. Detection and targeting are entirely different problems. A VHF system may produce a vague, low-resolution return suggesting ‘something is there,’ but it cannot generate a fire-control-quality track with sufficient accuracy (typically needing position errors well under 100 meters) to cue a SAM engagement. And it is that which makes LO aircraft really good …they are optimized for the X-band radar frequencies that would be used for guiding missiles.
So, you may know there is ‘something’ out there, but not be able to shoot it down. Definitely NOT before the ‘something’ out there shoots the enemy plane down or blows the radar station up.
Oh, and making it even worse for Iran, any stealth strike package operating over Iranian airspace would almost certainly be supported by EA-18G Growlers. They would jam the enemy radars so bad that one could probably fly 100 passenger jets over Tehran unharmed, let alone stealth fighters/bombers. Enemy radar technicians would only see a lot of snow on their scopes. Or maybe see hundreds of fake targets. Or maybe the Soace Force will just knock out all power. The USAF could likely fly crop dusters into Iran with all the jamming that would be happening. :)
So, I would bet that the Chinese radar systems will fail (and fail hard), that the Russian missiles will fail, and that the Iranian Air Force will either be blown up in the sky, ground, or pull an Iraqi stunt and simply refuse to fly (or fly to a neighboring country and land the planes there to save them).
The ONLY genuine beneficiary of any such engagement would be Israel’s signals intelligence collection effort. The electromagnetic signatures of the F-22 Raptor (its radar emissions, RCS profile at various aspect angles, and jamming responses) are among the most closely guarded technical secrets in the US inventory. Israel, as a sophisticated SIGINT user, would be deploying every available collection asset to characterize those signatures. This is entirely standard practice among allies: the RAF conducted extensive signature collection on B-2 Spirits during UK airshow appearances, and France is well-documented in exploiting joint exercises for technical intelligence collection on partner platforms. No one takes it personally … it’s simply what serious defense establishments do. I am sure, as an example, that the US Navy collect sonar data on the UK’s Astute attack submarines, and that the Brits try to do the same for the Virginias. As for the French, they probably spy on the States more than the Russians do. It’s just what friends do. Like neighbors bickering over a whisky on whether my 911 is ‘better’ than your SLS.
But for Iran …if they were wise they would just say yes to whatever President Trump wants to say and call it a day. President Trump is not one to joke with, and after what happened to Maduro …. I’ll
Please stop repeating CCP Propaganda! To begin with, China never “develops” anything! All they do is steal from other counties research. When they do build stuff its so cheap it is laughable.
“top line (sic) Chinese military tech”
How’d that work out for them last Summer?