The interaction in the development of optical missile seekers and jammer technology

Abstract

Heat-seeking missiles, using optical techniques, have been one of the most successful anti-air weapons since their introduction into operational service about 40 years ago. Their relative simplicity and small size makes them difficult to defeat with other so-called hard-kill weapons. A number of techniques have been investigated for defeating these very lethal guided weapons.

The most successful techniques are known as soft-kill methods and can be divided into two broad categories whether they are dispensed from a platform, typically an aircraft, or remain fixed to the platform. This paper considers the "cat and mouse" interaction between the development of onboard countermeasure techniques, known as jammers, and the evolution of seeker technology.

Keywords:

• OPTICAL SEEKERS
• RETICLES
• COUNTERMEASURES
• JAMMERS
• DIRECTED INFRARED COUNTERMEASURES
• LASERS