Can I find out in the DB what effective ranges for different types of jammers are?

[fatgreta1066]

As far as I can tell, that information is not available. I understand that the actual range varies, but how can I know roughly where to position those assets?

Thanks,

Chris

[wirthlin]

As far as I can tell, that information is not available. I understand that the actual range varies, but how can I know roughly where to position those assets?

Thanks,

Chris

Hi Chris,

As you probably know, the effectiveness of a jammer versus range is dependent on the geometry and details of the jammer and target radar. I would suggest playing around with the specific jammers and radars to figure out what the effective ranges are going to be for your scenario.

If you really want to understand how C:MO models it, do a Google Search on "Radar detection range and jamming calculations" RADJAM.

A great resource is the "Help->About Command" where you'll find references on the models that C:MO makes use of including RADJAM.

i hope this helps.

[fatgreta1066]

All right thanks for the tips. I'll see what I can figure out.

[SeaQueen]

As far as I can tell, that information is not available. I understand that the actual range varies, but how can I know roughly where to position those assets?

It depends on the combination of many factors, and there isn't a single solution. What's more important to understand the general dynamics of the problem in order to experiment and develop your own tactics.

The first range limit is the radar line of sight. If you lack a line of sight, then your jamming energy will not be received at the target. The second thing to understand is that radar returns have to travel two ways (to the target and back) while the jamming signal only has to travel one way. That means that the radar return power goes as 1/R^4 while the jamming signal only goes as 1/R^2. That means that you need more radar power to produce a given return than you need jamming power to jam it. That's convenient, but where you position your aircraft depends in part on where they 1/R^2 line meets the 1/R^4 line for a given set of radar and jamming parameters.

Radars also have a beam pattern. In order to maximize the effectiveness of the jammers, you want the protected assets to be in nearly a straight line between the jamming target and the jamming aircraft. The idea is to have the radar beam looking directly into the jamming beam. That being said, with many radars, especially older ones, it might not be necessary to have the alignment perfect. Sidelobe jamming might be perfectly sufficient to protect something. It just depends. If you are relying on sidelobe jamming, for any of many possible reasons, both planned and unplanned, you might choose need to get closer to a given jamming target to be effective than you would if you used main lobe jamming. The sidelobe versus main lobe decision can influence where you place your jamming aircraft, but it also influences where you put the assets you're trying to protect with the jamming aircraft.

It also depends on the radar cross section of the protected asset. An aircraft with a low RCS doesn't need as much jamming power to conceal it as a B-52 would. That means that the jammer can stand off more. How much more depends on the specifics of the jammer and the radar. A low rcs aircraft might allow you to use sidelobe jamming instead of main lobe jamming at the distance you decide to position the jamming aircraft at.

Then there's also the possibility that aircraft like the EA-6 or EA-18G tend to carry HARM or AARGM missiles. In order for those missiles to contribute to the fight, they need to be at least in range of the SAM sites they might be them shooting at. Plan accordingly.

There's also the survivability of the jamming aircraft. Jamming aircraft can typically ingress well inside of the dotted red missile range arc in CMO/CMANO. That being said, they probably shouldn't ingress so much that the 1/R^2 versus 1/R^4 tradeoff isn't in their favor anymore, and the SAM sites they're trying to protect others from can how successfully engage them!

So... to calculate all this you either need to learn a little radar engineering and start figuring out who to add up the all the decibels, or just experimentally develop rules of thumb.