Posted on 10/06/2014 11:25:34 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Chinese sources claim that the DWL002 passive radar system will render the F-22 and F-35 “obsolete.”
According to recent reports in the Chinese media, China is betting that its new DWL002 passive detection radar system will grant its armed forces a massive boost in countering the United States’ advanced stealth fighters. According to a report in Defense News, Chinese sources claim that the radar will render systems like the advanced F-22 fighter and the upcoming F-35 “obsolete” — a strong claim to be sure.
The DWL002 came to light in recent years and has been pitched by Chinese sources repeatedly as a credible counter to conventional stealth military aviation. The DWL002 is an emitter locating system (ELS) which partially iterates on innovations found in older Russian designs, including the KRTP Tamara series and ERA Vera-E. The DWL002 is a more advanced ELS compared to China’s YLC-20 system (which is itself based on the KRTP-91 Tamara). The United States and other Western European countries have abandoned the use and development of passive-detection radar systems, citing poor accuracy. China and Russia continue to use the systems. The DWL002 itself will have a likely range of around 400-500 kilometers and is comprised of three stations that operate in tandem, placed kilometers apart. According to Defense News, the DWL002′s range would allow it “cover all of Taiwan and the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, but [it] is not within range of U.S. military bases on Okinawa. Nor can it reach the Philippines.”
The DWL002, if it lives up to its touted capabilities, would severely hamper stealth fighter-based attempts at establishing aerial control over Chinese territory provided Chinese air defense systems are operational. Anti-stealth radar technology would play an important role in allowing the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to effectively counter parts of the United States AirSea Battle operational concept, for example. Part of the effectiveness of AirSea Battle relies on the U.S. Air Force and Navy deploying long-range stealth-based air platforms. With the DWL002 ESL, Chinese air defense systems would be significantly more effective at detecting hostile stealth aircraft. Another feature of the DWL002 that has drawn some attention from the Chinese media — notably the Global Times, according to WantChinaTimes – is its ability to track aircraft without notifying pilots that they have been detected by radar. Furthermore, according to Vassily Kashin, senior research fellow at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based think tank, the DWL002′s capabilities are not being exaggerated and pose a serious threat to stealth platforms.
Other sources are less convinced of the DWL002′s actual capabilities. According to a technical report by Air Power Australia, an independent defense think tank, the key innovation that sets the DWL002 apart from its other ELS predecessors is its use of “paired primary wideband apertures, displaced in elevation.” Based on the report, this seems to be extent of the DWL002′s capacity to impress. That report further emphasizes the DWL002′s height-finding capabilities more so than its explicit anti-stealth capabilities. The Air Power Australia report is widely skeptical of claims that the DWL002 and other variants on Soviet-era passive detection systems are technically capable of what is often touted, i.e. China hasn’t “solved” anti-stealth just yet. In general, however, passive detection radar systems will likely benefit from the increasingly signal-heavy nature of U.S. military aviation technologies — the systems work by constantly listening for and detecting electronic emissions. U.S. fighters — especially the upcoming F-35 — could have incoming and outgoing signal traffic detected by this system (although the more data-heavy Multi Function Advanced Datalink runs only when the aircraft is in low observable stealth mode).
Overall, the DWL002 is likely less of a threat to contemporary U.S. stealth aviation than recent reports would suggest. In the meantime, it should be noted that China isn’t putting all its eggs in the anti-stealth technology basket. In addition to defensive investments in anti-stealth, China has long been proactive about developing its own stealth aircraft. Recently, a full-scale model of China’s Shenyang J-31 stealth multirole fighter appeared on a PLAN carrier mock-up, prompting speculation that China is looking to deploy its own stealth jets at sea. Additionally, the Chengdu-20, a stealth air superiority fighter, is also under development and is expected to be operational later this decade.
Did China build it itself or did it steal it and try to copy it ?
One technology I’m surprised the Chinese haven’t tried to do is bi-static radar, where the transmitter and receiver are located in separate locations.
So if the stealth aircraft turned off its data links, it would go, er, stealth...
One way to learn how good their radar system is is to fly a F-117 as an RPV.fly it into sensative Chinese Air Space and see what happens.
We’ll find out if the Chinese systems work as well as they claim or if as usual,their just blustering,trying to intimidate us.
I think their full of it and that’s based upon the info I read from the designers of stealth aircraft in the First place.The Lockheed Skunk works and their Director Kelly Johnson.
Or a bunch of cheap drones with big radios to make them have to find the real jet in that mess.
"There's an intermittent signal coming in from the SSE...the approximate direction of the GW Battle Group and Okinawa"
How does that help them?
Do you want to know the effectiveness before the Obamadork and his shoddily educated minions sells (or gives) them all of our TS/SCI stuff, or afterwards?
I learened a lot of disparate information from that guy.
“One technology I’m surprised the Chinese haven’t tried to do is bi-static radar, where the transmitter and receiver are located in separate locations.”
From the very limited description, I am not sure this doesn’t use that technology, at least in part. Kinda like the pre-active radar gear the Brits had early on in WWII.
I switched off as soon as I saw Air Power Australia. They have less than zero credibility.
One advantage that low observable has is that it makes active jamming relatively more effective.
After a thousand cruise missiles hit the radar and SAM missile sites, the aircraft can come in.
“After a thousand cruise missiles hit the radar and SAM missile sites, the aircraft can come in.”
That’s a nice thought, except these radars are mobile and don’t emit a signal. That rules out the HARM type anti-radar missiles. Mobility means they have to be found before they can be destroyed.
All that said, B-2s, F-22s and F-35s shouldn’t be emitting anything detectable on a regular basis. Air-to-air missiles can be cued by AWACS, or a different F-22 further away from the area of engagement. IR missiles, of course, require no radar emission at all. Another point is that satellite comms are directional, so the plane wouldn’t be radiating towards the radars to use those.
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