Third party targeting and over the shoulder shots may often be talked about within the air-to-air missile community. Less often are they actually tried in the real world.

An interesting shot was described recently by Brig. General Jerome Huret, head of the French air force’s operational evaluation and test center, involving two Dassault Rafale aircraft, and a target drone. The target drone was positioned in the launch aircraft’s seven o’clock, with target information provided by a second Rafale.

The launch aircraft called for a “de-louse” – to ensure that it did not have any unwanted company. With the target drone identified and the data provided to the launch aircraft, an MBDA Mica was fired “over the shoulder” – resulting in the destruction of the target drone.

Although Huret did not say, the shot was most likely carried out using an imaging-infrared guided Mica IR. Huret was presenting at a recent IQPC Air-Launched Weapons conference in London.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3aaff30e90-45c7-44e2-a656-a6e1b9ad3882

clearer to post the whole article.

DATE:10/11/08
SOURCE:Flight International
New radar could boost Rafale’s export prospects
By Andrew Doyle

French industry is pinning its hopes for reviving the flagging export fortunes of the Dassault Rafale fighter on the entry into production this month of Europe’s first active electronically scanned array radar.

“This capability has ended its development phase and is now entering into the production phase,” says Thales Airborne Systems chief executive Pierre-Yves Chaltiel.

Thales will start delivering AESA RBE-2 radars to the French air force from 2010 under a €200 million ($256 million) contract covering final development and the initial production of up to four units. Chaltiel expects the French defence ministry to award a full series production contract worth “several hundreds of millions of euros” for the RBE-2 in 2009, to equip the French military’s fourth tranche of Rafales, expected to number around 60 aircraft.

In the export market, “Rafale was very difficult to sell perhaps five or 10 years ago”, says Chaltiel. “But now it’s fully available with what I think is a real differentiator towards all its competitors”.

Swapping out the Rafale’s passive electronically steered antenna and replacing it with the active antenna takes “less than one hour”, says Chaltiel, although France is yet to commit to a retrofit of its existing Rafale fleet. The AESA radar face improves detection range by “about 40% compared with previous technologies of radar”, says Chaltiel.

Meanwhile, the Rafale’s ability to shoot down an enemy aircraft using only passive detection was demonstrated for the first time in October, says Chaltiel. Two aircraft flew “several miles apart”, the first using electronic support measures to monitor the target and communicate its track via Link 16 datalink to the second Rafale.

The second aircraft also passively tracked the target using its infrared search and track system and was able to achieve a lock-on by sending “a few pulses” from its laser rangefinder. The enemy aircraft was then “shot down” using an MBDA “Mica-type” air-to-air missile with an active seeker that became effective at a range of around 18km (10nm), says Chaltiel.

“It is possible now to have a fully passive detection capability and shoot down enemy aircraft without transmitting a single emission from the aircraft,” says Chaltiel.

Thales says that the integration of the RBE-2 positions the Rafale as the only fighter in its class to be equipped with active arrays for both its radar and electronic warfare suite.

signatory,

I don’t doubt a second that gripen’s EW suit is good, but from my personnal opinion when you are able to launch several satellites to feed SPECTRA plus developping a high speed laser datalink with satellites (a world first-see article and video above about LOLA), It is an indicator of the work and energy dedicated to spectra and without disrespect;), such ressources are out of sweeden financial reach.

Again I acknowledge the part of speculations and I accept it since we can’t do otherwise when dealing with such things.

But here are some sources which motivate my position (I say motivate not proove)

-Spectra is france biggest black programme
-first european programme to use ASEA antenna
-Its efficiency has been reckognized in international competions against other modern fighters (see above in korea)
-During the MACE X surface to air exercise a falcon testbed for the CARBONE pod remained undetected while flying vertically above modern radars. (same tech than spectra)
-Bill sweetman interview with Pierre yves chatiel (see above)
-Red flag spying (USAF videos)
-And now they are lauching several ELINT satelites and developping high speed datalinks

Plus I would add at a personnal level my interpretation of some talks with pilots (2 including one which is the spectra officer for the AdA) and a dassault top executive. Of course I had to read between the lines since they remained very vague about anything specific about spectra…But that was what I felt.

sorry over-g but I think you are overlooking the amount of work done on spectra, launching several sattelites to feed spectra with ELINT was something never seen before…Or at least known. Also Spectra was part of france biggest black programme (which wil add even more speculation:D).

“Dassault’s combat aircraft Rafale was rated as “excellent” in all five categories, while its strongest rival, Boeing’s F-15 fighter, reached the standard in only two categories.

The Boeing fighter received “excellent” in reliability and supportive combat capability, while Eurofighter, produced by a European consortium, won the top grades in the general function and reliability categories.

In the categories of weapons and electronic warfare capability, only Rafale earned the “excellent” grade, according to the officials.
Russia’s Su-35 took fourth place with “ordinary” rates in all five categories.

There is always a part of speculation about EW suits I grant you that since it is a very cassified item. But informations are converging and tell that SPECTRA is more than a conventional jammer. (and pierre yves chatiel is the first one to reckognizes it-see bill sweetman article above).

So even if we can acknowledge that we will never know everything, several clues indicate that spectra is a cutting edge device. And when I say that I am very cautious to not fell in the stupid “wow” factor.

After that you can disagree and I can’t prove you formally that you are wrong but from the informations we have and from my personnal experience I believe that spectra has some features which will give him an edge in some situations. I accept the part of speculation in my speech and you are free to disagree, but I think it is sensible.

PS : marketing for an EW suit is very stupid since clients are usually states and they will require some specific datas to know the truth…So I don’t see the interest of making sales pitch. We are not talking of mass products goods.

There was a extraordinary demo of a laser comunication between a Mistere 20 and a Satellite in 2007. 100% discrete.
The program is called LOLA and it’s driven by the DGA (so military purpose)

http://www.defense.gouv.fr/dga/votre…miere_mondiale

When you see the video, you see that the system is very mature and allows a high rate broadband (video)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2c…portee-lo_news

very very interesting…

Le mardi 19, une démonstration de liaison optique laser aéroportée (LOLA) entre un Mystère 20 de la délégation générale pour l’armement (DGA) et le satellite géostationnaire ARTEMIS en orbite à 36 000 km a été conduite au salon du Bourget. Une caméra embarquée sur le Mystère 20 a permis un transfert vidéo haute définition en temps réel. Trois ans d’efforts ont été nécessaires au succès de cette toute première liaison optique entre un satellite et un aéronef. La DGA a conduit dans son centre d’essais en vol d’Istres la campagne d’essais du démonstrateur Lola. Prochaine démonstration jeudi 21 juin.

Pour la première fois au monde, en décembre dernier, une liaison optique par laser était établie entre un satellite, Artémis, et un aéronef, un Mystère 20 de la flotte du centre d’essais en vol de la DGA. Un exploit technique suivi, quelques semaines plus tard, des premières transmissions de données à très haut débit.

Le succès du démonstrateur Lola est le résultat d’une coopération entre les ingénieurs d’Astrium et l’équipe du CEV base d’Istres, choisi par l’industriel pour mener à bien cette campagne d’essai. Les liaisons optiques bidirectionnelles ont été établies avec le satellite de télécommunications géostationnaire Artémis, de l’Agence spatiale européenne, dont le terminal optique Opale est utilisé habituellement pour réaliser une liaison avec le satellite SPOT 4 du CNES.

Lola, atouts et enjeux

La réalisation du démonstrateur technologique Lola (Liaison optique laser aéroportée) a été confiée en décembre 2003 par la DGA à la société EADS Astrium SAS. Le programme visait à valider la faisabilité des liaisons optiques par laser entre un aéronef et un satellite

Une liaison laser offre des avantages décisifs par rapport à la voie hertzienne : des échanges quasi instantanés, un débit élevé, une discrétion absolue et une sécurité incomparable. L’interception des données est presque impossible, tout comme le brouillage, à moins de couper le faisceau.

Les principales difficultés techniques à relever étaient la stabilité du pointage du terminal optique embarqué sur l’aéronef, et la maîtrise des effets de la propagation du signal dans l’atmosphère.

Lola a permis de transmettre en temps réel des données au débit de 50 Mbits par seconde, une performance quinze fois supérieure à une transmission en radiofréquence.

google traduction :

Tuesday, 19, a demonstration of airborne laser optical link (LOLA) between a Mystère 20 of the General Delegation for Armaments (DGA) and the ARTEMIS satellite in geostationary orbit 36 000 km was conducted at the Paris Air Show . A camera mounted on the Mystery 20 has led to a transfer high-definition video in real time. Three years of efforts have been necessary to the success of the first optical link between a satellite and an aircraft. The DGA has led in its test center in the Istres flight test campaign demonstrator Lola. Demonstration next Thursday June 21.

For the first time ever, last December, a laser optical link was established between a satellite, Artemis, and an aircraft, 20 of the mystery fleet center flight tests of the DGA. A technical achievement followed a few weeks later, the first transmission of data at very high speed.

The success of Lola demonstrator is the result of cooperation between engineers from Astrium and the team CEV Istres base, chosen by the company to complete the campaign trial. Bidirectional optical links were established with the geostationary satellite Artemis, the European Space Agency, whose optical terminal Opal is usually used to make a connection with the SPOT 4 satellite of CNES.

Lola, strengths and challenges

The realization of the technology demonstrator Lola (Liaison airborne laser) was assigned in December 2003 by the DGA to the company EADS Astrium SAS. The program was designed to validate the feasibility of optical laser links between an aircraft and a satellite

A laser link offers advantages over the air: trade almost instantaneous, a high speed, absolute discretion and security incomparable. The interception of data is almost impossible, like jamming, unless cutting the beam.

The main technical difficulties were to raise the stability of optical pointing terminal on board the aircraft, and control the effects of the spread signal into the atmosphere.

Lola allowed to transmit real-time data throughput of 50 Mbits per second, a performance fifteen times higher than a radio transmission.

France Readies Satellite Launches

Elisa is designed to draw a radar map of the world, identifying civil and military radars, allowing a designation of weapon systems linked to the radars. Elisa is mainly designed for ground-based radars but could detect radars in movement.

Eventually, data from Elisa on enemy radars would be passed on the Spectra electronic countermeasures suite on the Rafale fighter to allow suppression of enemy air defense missions

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php…29&c=EUR&s=AIR

The amount of efforts to develop and to improve SPECTRA is amazing !:eek:

France biggest black programme, first european system to use AESA antennas, Red flag spying, continuous iterrations and now they launch a sattelite…!

an interesting article from bill sweetman about spectra :

The Rafale EW suite, known as Spectra, is one of the most powerful systems installed on a fighter aircraft and is intimately associated with the unique approach to stealth and survivability designed into the Rafale. Dassault executives describe the Rafale as discreet rather than being stealthy in the sense of a F-22. To avoid detection, it combines avionics, tactics, and reduced radar reflectivity with some techniques that have not been directly revealed and are apparently unique.

The first element of discretion is that Spectra’s receiver system and the FSO help detect and track targets without using radar. Spectra incorporates a radio-frequency (RF) detection system, a missile-approach warning sensor, and a laser-warning system and provides full 360-degrees coverage. The RF detection subsystem uses prominent square-section antennas, mounted on the lower corners of the engine inlets and in the rear of the fin-top pod, covering 120 degrees each. The receiver antennas use interferometric techniques to measure a signal’s angle of arrival within less than 1 degree and are designed so that they do not have a large radar-cross-section (RCS) contribution.

The Rafale is also designed to use terrain masking, particularly at night or in bad, weather when visually cued short-range surface-to-air weapons are less effective. With its maneuverability and a high degree of cockpit automation, the fighter is designed to fly a terrain-avoidance/threat- avoidance profile at 5.5 g and 100 feet in altitude. The RBE2 and a terrain-referenced navigation system, using stored terrain data, are used to provide redundant flight guidance.

Rafale makes extensive use of radar-absorbent material (RAM) in the form of paints and other materials, Dassault engineers have said. RAM forms a saw-toothed pattern on the wing and canard trailing edges, for instance. The aircraft is designed to so that its untreated radar signature is concentrated in a few strong “spikes,” which are then suppressed by the selective use of RAM.

Spectra’s active jamming subsystem uses phased-array antennas located at the roots of the canards. Dassault has stated that the EW transmit antennas can produce a pencil beam compatible with the accuracy of the receiver system, concentrating power on the threat while minimizing the chances of detection.

But there is more to Spectra than conventional jamming. Pierre-Yves Chaltiel, a Thales engineer on the Spectra program, remarked in a 1997 interview that Spectra uses “stealthy jamming modes that not only have a saturating effect, but make the aircraft invisible… There are some very specific techniques to obtain the signature of a real LO [low-observable] aircraft.” When asked if he was talking about active cancellation, Chaltiel declined to answer.

Earlier this year, Thales and European missile-builder MBDA disclosed that they were working on active-cancellation technology for cruise missiles and had already tested it on a small unmanned aerial vehicle, using a combination of active and passive techniques to manage radar signature. This revelation makes it considerably more likely that active cancellation is already being developed for Rafale.

Active cancellation is a LO technique in which the aircraft, when painted by a radar, transmits a signal which mimics the echo that the radar will receive – but one half-wavelength out of phase, so that the radar sees no return at all. The advantage of this technique is that it uses very low power, compared with conventional EW, and provides no clues to the aircraft’s presence; the challenge is that it requires very fast processing and that poorly executed active cancellation could make the target more rather than less visible.

The complexity of active cancellation could account for Spectra’s high price tag, estimated in 1997 as “several billion francs” (equivalent to the high hundreds of millions of US dollars) for research and development. One of four Rafale prototypes was dedicated to Spectra tests, along with a Falcon 20 flying testbed. Four new large anechoic chambers were built to support the Spectra project, including one which is large and well equipped enough to operate the complete system in a fully detailed electromagnetic environment.

Spectra’s RF systems are backed up by a laser-warning system, an optical missile-launch-warning system, and a full range of expendable countermeasures. There is no towed decoy system.

On the weapons side, the F2/05 Rafale will carry the IR version of the MBDA MICA air-to-air missile. The Rafale is unique in being designed around a single missile, MICA, which has been developed in active-radar and IR versions. Both versions feature a data-link to provide mid-course guidance (like AMRAAM) and vectored thrust for short-range agility. Unlike other IR missiles, therefore, MICA can be launched before the seeker locks, on and can perform a completely silent beyond-visual-range attack. The F2/05 will also carry the MBDA Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missile.

This pic is impressive !

True but designing a truely versatile (not like the F22) 5th gen fighter in the eigthies was out of french financial reach.