Iraq has passive radar?

Ukraine's opposition is staging a second day of protests Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko is to hold urgent talks in the United Nations, following allegations that Kiev approved the sale of advanced radar systems to Iraq.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Serhiy Borodenkov said Mr Zlenko had broken off a trip to the Dominican Republic to meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York.

He is also expected to meet the Chairman of the UN Security Council's Iraqi sanctions committee, Ole Peter Kolby.

The visits comes after Nato Secretary-General George Robertson said "very serious questions" needed to be answered about evidence emerging of the alleged deal.

Earlier, the United States announced it was suspending more than $50m in aid to Ukraine and launching a policy review of its relations with the country.

Presidential administration head Viktor Medvedchuk said the accusations were aimed at boosting opposition to Mr Kuchma.

The row comes as Kiev faces a deep internal crisis, with opposition supporters holding a second day of protests and making increasingly vocal calls for Mr Kuchma's resignation.

Ukrainian Economics Minister Oleksandr Shlapak dismissed the accusations and said his government did not understand the US decision.

His remarks were the first high-level response from Ukraine to an announcement by Washington that the US is reviewing its policies towards a country that has been in the top five recipients of US aid for more than a decade.

The move comes after US officials authenticated tape recordings, in which they say President Leonid Kuchma is heard approving the sale of Kolchuga early warning radar systems to Iraq.

Speaking on the eve of his departure to Washington as head of Ukraine's delegation to the IMF and the World Bank, Mr Shlapak said there was still no proof that Ukraine has illegally sold weapons systems to Iraq.

Although existing humanitarian aid projects will be unaffected, Washington's decision is an unambiguous gesture of concern, says BBC Russian regional analyst Steven Eke.

The evidence is a secretly-made audio recording by Mr Kuchma's former security officer Mykola Melnychenko, in which the president is apparently heard approving a scheme to smuggle four radars to Iraq via a Jordanian intermediary.

Transcripts of the conversation have been in the public domain for some months, and the State Department says its delayed reaction is due to time-consuming efforts to authenticate the recording.

The US State Department says it has indications that the Ukrainian radars may already be in Iraq.

Known as passive radars, they are reported to be able to locate all types of aircraft - including stealth aircraft - while themselves remaining virtually undetectable.

The location of the transmitter (AWACS, etc.)

Since that platform is a transmitter, it could also be located by a passive receiver tuned to it's radar frequency.
That receiver site would need to be able to adjust frequencies quickly,
and be able to send it's results in realtime.

The location of the transmitter (AWACS, etc) could be determined by a active radar,

Passive is going to pick up the location of any radar source. We just keep the AWAC's back out of harm's way. I am sure a sophisticated Russian radar would have no trouble with a moving radio source. To me it would seem like you could get more info rather than less with several radar sources moving back and forth parallel to the line of resistance. The airwaves would be flush with signals in a conflict area anyway. I am sure the Russians capitalize on every twist we can think of here.

That receiver site would need to be able to adjust frequencies quickly, and be able to send it's results in realtime.

Like a police scanner attached to a P200. that ought to be plenty fast. Multiple scanning receivers might work too. It would not take much computing power to compost all the data.

A stealth aircraft may absorb radar directed towards it, but it will cast a "shadow" if it flies between a TV tower and a passive radar station

which will suffice to inform Abdul that he'd better duck, fast... but not in sufficient time to allow him to do so, much less *track* the object that just blew him to Allah...

It would be an interesting full scale test to see if they all go back to the stone age or not...

..'cause any unshielded electronics within a few hundred miles (or so) would also fry. And the power grid would be cooking itself to death as unchecked pulses race around it like uncaged hamsters on speed.

And riding those nice wave guides.......
Makes for a nice Sunday evening image to sit back and drink ice tea to.

The problem with using AWACS/J-STARS in this system is that the wedge of space the "shadow" would have to pass through to be detected is constantly moving. In order to utilize this, first the location of the airborne radar would have to be determined (either through the enemies' active radar or through TMA), then the shadow would have to have the same analasys at the same time. In short, while AWACS could be used to say that a target's at a certain bearing, it's not going to be enough for even tracking.

Each move causes a counter-move. Given the state of computer processing, it won't be long before this is also defeated.

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