AIR VEHICLE WARNING USING BISTATIC RADAR SOUNDBUDYS

A PRINCIPAL LESSON LARNED FROM THE FALKLAND WAR WAS THAT, WITHOUT AIRBORNER RADARS, SHIPBOARD AIR DEFENSED HAD VERY LITTLE WARNING TIME TO REACT TO ATTCK FROM LOW ALTITUDE MISSILES AND AIRCRAFT. A NEW CONCEPT FOR PROVIDING SUCH WARNING USES A NET OF STANDARD NAVY SONDBUOYS, WHICH ARE CONFIGURED AS A BISTATIC RADAR FENCE. THE VHF DATA LINK TRANSMITTER ON EACH SONDBUOY ACTS AS A SEPARATE BISTATIC TRANSMITTER, AND A DATA LINK RECEIVER WITH A SPECIAL PURPOSE DOPPLER PROCESSOR ON THE ASW AIRCRAFT OR SHIP ACTS AS A SINGLE BISTATIC RECEIVER. TARGET AZIMUTH IS PROVIDED BY SIMPLY NOTING ON WHICH SONDBUOY FREQUENCY THE TARGET IS DETECETED. A 120 DEGREE SONDBUOY FENCE WILL CONTAIN 28 SONDBUOYS, SPACED 5 TO 10 NMI APART, LOCATED AS FAR AS 70 NMI FROM THE TASK GROUP. SIMULTANEOUS ASW OPERATIONS AND DETECTION OF VERY LOW CROSS-SECTION TARGETS ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS CONFIGURATION. PHASE I OBJECTIVES ARE TO ESTABLISH OPTIMUM DEPLOYMENT CONFIGURATIONS AND PERFORMANCE; EVALUATE ECM, WAVE MASKDING AND MULTIPATH EFFECTS; DESIGN THE BISTATIC PROCESSOR; AND PERFORM LABORATORY SPECTRAL PURITYMEASUREMENTS OF SONDBUOY TRANSMITTERS. FOLLOWING RESOLUTION OF THESE CRITICAL ISSUES, PHASE II WILL PERFORM DETAILED SYSTEM DESIGN AND TEST PLANNING, LEADING TO PROCESSOR DEVELOPMENT AND AT-SEA DEMONSTRATIONS.