The USN AHsM future is subsonic. OR: how I learned to stop worrying and just love the Tomahawk

[Josh]

9 hours ago, Cajer said:

I hope so. It would be a step in the right direction. However it may not be very useful due to the sheer number of sar sats that will be up

I don't see how the number changes any thing if the system uses AESA. It can be time shared across multiple emission sources and it would have a large power advantage, along with the inverse square law working in its favor. Large areas are being jammed in Crimea. If nothing else, ship ID should be easily obscured.

 

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/11/russias-powerful-invisible-defenses-around-sevastopol-rendered-visible/

Edited December 13, 2023 by Josh

[Cajer]

If you have man sats, and they maneuver a bit to change orbit/arrival time there will be some delay in determining the new orbit or discovering that they are overhead.  Allowing enough time to find targets if they know approximately where everything is.

Additionally with computer vision being what it is, EO sats can likely track targets once they are found with SAR so orbital maneuvers do not need to happen all the time.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Cajer

[Josh]

21 hours ago, Cajer said:

If you have man sats, and they maneuver a bit to change orbit/arrival time there will be some delay in determining the new orbit or discovering that they are overhead.  Allowing enough time to find targets if they know approximately where everything is.

Additionally with computer vision being what it is, EO sats can likely track targets once they are found with SAR so orbital maneuvers do not need to happen all the time.

If they are radiating, detection should be extremely straight forward. Precise location in orbit is not necessary for electronic counter measures, merely a bearing and azimuth. EO satellites in geosynchronous orbit will be able to stare at their targets indefinitely and I don't see any way of interfering with that without either attacking the satellite, its ground support, or its communications (a relay satellite might be used; unsure of the geometry). There are at least two EO satellites in GEO now, the latest of which is Hubble sized with potentially 1 m resolution. Though that would be limited to persistently tracking one particular formation, or else having to constantly realign to time share its area of coverage. EO satellites in low earth orbit are going to have a very small viewing window with an very short viewing time; they would be used more for confirming ship ID or battle damage rather than initial detection or persistent tracking. Any LEO satellite is going to require some kind of cross link/relay satellite to get its information to a shore base for processing. Jamming the relay might be an attractive option since the geometry allows for a ship to radiate upward in roughly the same direction as the satellite and power likely favors a ship board jammer, despite the extra distance.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Josh