Posted on 04/29/2010 7:03:43 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Think of the F-15 acting as some sort of a chaperon for her generational successor, the F-22.
Why not more aircraft? Trade capability for numbers.
Unless you need to penetrate an air defense net laced with the latest generation Russian and Chinese made SAM batteries, especially the lethally potent S-300 series, where an all-Raptor strike group is to be used.
It would be like the horses chaperoning the tanks in WWI.
“Unless you need to penetrate an air defense net laced with the latest generation Russian and Chinese made SAM batteries, especially the lethally potent S-300 series, where an all-Raptor strike group is to be used.”
It is exactly the opposite you need standoff jamming more than ever in that case. The more jamming, the better.
To counter that, the jamming must be rapidly passed from one aircraft to the other through datalinking, like passing around a hot potato, so that the SAM, launched on home-on-jam mode, is chasing around a target leaping around the sky and expending its propellant.
Given that the F-22 force is now capped, with bipartisan (Thanks Juan McAmnesty!) support, this isn’t a bad idea.
Send in the F-15s to draw fire, forcing the enemy to either send up its fighters or activate its AD-network and then fix the enemy while using the F-22s to put them down.
It’s a variation of Robin Olds’ Operation Bolo: create a scenario where the enemy gets drawn up and into the middle of an offensive fighter sweep.
“To counter that, the jamming must be rapidly passed from one aircraft to the other through datalinking, like passing around a hot potato, so that the SAM, launched on home-on-jam mode, is chasing around a target leaping around the sky and expending its propellant.”
Where do you come up with this stuff?
You need to keep in mind that stealth is not invisibility.
Stealth degrades radar performance - reducing detection range. stand-off jamming does the same thing. If you combine the two you get better results - and reduce the possibility that some vulnerability of stealth can be effectively utilized.
Jamming also is an effective psy-ops tool - making the enemy think that an attack is imminent when is not. Repeated often enough before a real attack saps the human performance of the system.
I don’t know the specifics of the F-15 jamming platform, but you can be sure that in practice it will be highly coordinated with mission planning. There are detailed energy studies used when assessing SAM performance. You never intentionally place a high-value jamming asset in severe jeopardy if you can avoid it.
Page 142 of Stealth Warplanes, by Doug Richardson.
Quote: Stand-off jammers mounted in aircraft such as the EA-6B and EF-111 are best used against early warning and GCI radars, where their high power can prevent the enemy predicting the direction from which strike aircraft or fighters may be coming. Deprived of this tactical information, target radars must carry out their own search for the incoming formations.
Since the high-powered jammers on an EA-6B would be a good target for a SAM launched in home-on-jam mode, a group of several jamming aircraft can protect themselves by sharing target data via a data link, and taking turns to be the jammer. Faced with a target that seems to be jumping around the sky, the missile will expend its propulsive power in a vain attempt to chase the source of jamming energy.
“Quote: Stand-off jammers mounted in aircraft such as the EA-6B and EF-111 are best used against early warning and GCI radars, where their high power can prevent the enemy predicting the direction from which strike aircraft or fighters may be coming.”
different mission.
The F-15 will be the F22 “eyes” and will provide jamming as needed, I suppose. I don’t what their plans are but I doubt it will be an EA6 stand-in. There are no more operational EF111’s
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.