Effect of pre-emptive flares on Man-Portable Air-Defence (MANPAD) systems with a track angle bias counter-countermeasure (CCM)

摘要

Man-Portable Air-Defence (MANPAD) systems can employ a range of counter-countermeasures (CCM) to reject expendable IR decoys. Three hypothetical MANPAD models are based on reticle types and CCM features that may be found in 1~(st) and 2~(nd) generation MANPADs. These are used in simulations to estimate the probability of escaping hit (PEH) when no IR decoys are used, when IR decoys are deployed reactively and when decoys are deployed preemptively. These cases are simulated for seekers with no CCM and with a track angle bias CCM.rnThe results confirm that the rise rate CCM significantly reduces the PEH when IR decoys are used reactively. The use of pre-emptive flares timed to deploy at or about the time when the seeker is uncaged increases the PEH significantly. A more detailed investigation of the effects of aircraft aspect angle and flare timing on miss distance was carried out to examine the effects of the CCM compared with no CCM. With the aircraft at an altitude of 1000m and a range of 2km there is a critical period in which a flare needs to be released in order to achieve a significant miss distance when the CCM is in use. The conical scan seeker used with the track angle bias CCM was the most effective combination requiring the shortest time during which the flare had to be deployed. Further simulations at longer ranges and different aircraft azimuth angles showed that there is a time window that is range dependant during which pre-emptive decoys are fully effective independently of the aircraft azimuth or threat direction.