Chapter 160 Advantages of Phased Array Radar

Faced with the Soviet plane that fired missiles at them, the Tomcat fleet did not return. Are you kidding? The enemy had one plane and our side had four. How could they be scared by the enemy?

If we turn around and run away like this, it will be a disgrace to the entire 5th Carrier Aircraft Wing! Don't go to the aircraft carrier in the future, just stay in the rear as a reserve wing!

The leader's radar quickly locked onto the enemy, and then, flames flashed under the wings, and two Phoenix missiles flew out.

Two missiles fired at the same target!

The other side actually launched four missiles! Want to attack four of our fighters at the same time? Ridiculous! Even the United States' technology has only been used in experiments to attack six targets at the same time, and the results achieved are very ideal, but unfortunately, it is only an ideal!

In actual combat, no enemy plane will be treated as a target, not changing its course and waiting to be shot down by a Phoenix missile. If it were a cruise missile, it would be almost the same!

Now, after the opponent launched missiles, the Tomcat fighter formation also began to maneuver. Except for the lead plane which had to aim its nose at the opponent to provide medium-range guidance for the Phoenix missile and was unable to move, the rest of the fighters began to maneuver and evade.

A Tomcat fighter plane climbed high into the air, rushing to an altitude of 20,000 meters. One flew to the left, and the other flew to the right, to see how the opponent's outdated radar would continue to lock on to them!

The radar antenna needs to be aimed at the target to lock on. Just now, the four fighters were in the same position, so it was possible for them to be locked on at the same time. But now, as they are scattered, the opponent must make a choice, which direction to move the radar antenna! They can only focus on one direction, and the other three directions will miss the target!

Unfortunately, they still miscalculated, because they did not expect that the opponent's radar was not an inverted pot lid at all, nor a flat plate with a gap like theirs, but a phased array radar that relied on phase shifters to change the beam!

The 3,000 ferrite phase shifters of the SBE-16 phased array antenna radar began to rapidly change the direction of the beam. The beam radiated by the entire antenna was divided into four directions, continuing to track the target just locked. The opponent's maneuvers were like a clown's show in front of the SBE-16 radar!

After the R-33 missile was launched, its speed, combined with that of the carrier aircraft, reached a speed of up to Mach 5. During the flight, due to the effect of air resistance, its speed continued to decrease. When it reached the target, its speed had dropped to Mach 3. Even so, it took less than a hundred seconds to fly the distance of 90 kilometers!

The Tomcat was changing its position, but it could not escape the search range of the MiG-31's radar!

The vertical scanning range is plus or minus 70 degrees, and the horizontal scanning range is plus or minus 60 degrees. Any target within a wide cone cannot escape the hunting of the MiG-31!

After launching the missile, the MiG-31 turned off the afterburner, which increased the airspace range scanned by the radar.

"Thirty seconds, prepare to switch to terminal semi-active guidance." Fedotov in the rear cabin said as he flipped the switch.

Although it uses a powerful phased array radar, the MiG-31's electronic system is still quite complex. Guiding the R-33 missile requires manual intervention in the entire process to improve attack efficiency.

The guidance of the R-33 missile is divided into three parts. When it just flies out, it is controlled by the program, and then the trajectory is corrected by radio commands. After approaching the target, it uses the target's radar echo to track it.

Semi-active radar guidance means that the missile only receives radar beams but does not launch, relying on the carrier aircraft to illuminate the target, just like turning on a flashlight in the dark and then walking along the flashlight.

"Ten seconds to go." Fedotov counted down: "Nine, eight..."

The R-33 missiles spread out in the air and flew towards four targets. The first missile launched was aimed at the enemy's lead aircraft!

When being targeted by a missile and having to maintain the same flying posture as a target aircraft and provide medium-range guidance for one's own missile, this is the time that most tests a pilot's endurance.

At this time, the pilot of the lead plane, Major Shuster, felt sweat coming out on his forehead.

"Already switched to active guidance!" shouted the radar operator in the rear cabin.

The Phoenix missile is the first active radar-guided missile in the U.S. arsenal. When it is 20 kilometers away from the target, the active guidance head will be turned on, and at this time, the carrier aircraft can retreat!

"Okay!" Major Shuster pushed the nose of the plane and began to dive downward.

The Soviets' electronic technology was backward, and their radar lacked effective ground scanning capabilities, so Soustron chose to dive downward to evade. Moreover, the other three planes were flying upward and left and right. As long as he dived downward, he could not only shake off the opponent's missiles, but also give other wingmen more opportunities to get rid of the missiles.

Unfortunately, he was wrong again.

The 3,000 phase shifters of the phased array radar require powerful data computing capabilities. The MiG-31's radar has a processing power that exceeds that of any previous fighter radar, and its ability to filter out ground clutter has also been enhanced.

Moreover, the Tomcat fighter's dive speed could not match that of the incoming R-33 missile.

"Boom!" Just after the R-33 missile continued to fly for ten seconds, it had approached to a distance of twenty meters from the Tomcat fighter. At this distance, the proximity fuse of the R-33 missile ignited the 47-kilogram, flying rod warhead, bringing countless fragments to the death of the Tomcat fighter.

"The target has disappeared." The radar operator said as he focused his attention on three other missiles. At the same time, the more than 700 remaining phase shifters dispersed the beam to provide a certain airspace scanning performance.

"Two Phoenix missiles are flying towards us, fifteen kilometers away! Expected to arrive in fifteen seconds!" Fedotov shouted loudly as he looked at the extra light spots on the radar screen.

Phased array radar is not omnipotent. To guide four missiles at the same time, the radar beam needs to be dispersed in four directions, which will lack the ability to observe other airspace. Therefore, the MiG-31 did not detect the opponent's two incoming missiles.

And now, the vacant phase shifter used the radar beam to scan the sky and immediately discovered something unusual. The opponent was not only dodging, but also launching missiles to attack them!

"Keep guiding." Andre shouted loudly to the back.

Fifteen seconds, that's enough time!

The second missile hit the second target aircraft five seconds later.

"The third missile is malfunctioning! Prepare to guide the fourth one." Fedotov shouted loudly. The missile was flying well, but suddenly fell when it was two kilometers away from the target.

At this moment, he felt dizzy and his body turned upward at a large angle. Under the effect of the anti-gravity suit, the blood in Fedotov's body continued to flow back. He felt the high-overload maneuvering of the fighter plane. Andrei in the front cabin had already begun to operate the fighter plane to maneuver and avoid the two incoming missiles.