Is it possible that KJ-3000 might potentially be large enough to carry two or more rotating crews for potential 12+ hour long deployment with aerial refueling?
PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread
- Thread starter Sczepan
- Start date
Now that you mentioned it, it does seems that the KJ-3000 could very (if not at least partially) well be what the E-10 MC2A was originally meant to be, if the project wasn't born in the wrong era.
Doesn't look like that.
Main array is on a wrong side, and it's potentially in very wrong bands(if low band is true). I.e. it can, but as a very secondary option.
Same for optics - sure, not prohibited, but much smaller aircraft and drones can do it without 200t aircraft.
If it wants to do E-10, it would probably needs a secondary X-band radar for the GMTI capability.
Apparently according to Lockmart low band + 'fancy algorithms' = fire control quality tracks (a la APY-9), so I would bet most if not all modern AEW&C are going for low frequency bands these days given their additional anti-stealth advantages.
Indeed, apparently it's unavoidable. But it will only further separate them from JSTARS functionality (which nowadays more and more often comes from orbit anyway).
Ultimately, looking at surface is better be done in shorter wavelengths.
I really hate that marketing. As it's very loose in definition and often followed with "this can allow firing missiles etc"
If one stick to say, K.Barton's "Radar System Analysis and Modeling". Page 449 have this :
NO AEW radar will meet this criteria for missile or gunfire control. APY-9 may still have mainlobe width of some 7 Degrees which, well not a "fire control grade" as per K.Barton's book above. Even fighter jets, typical fighter radars have mainlobe of about 3-4 degrees. Very rarely 1 Degrees and that is usually for ground attack as narrow beamwidth helps in getting clutter away and to get better resolution in real-beam mapping.
The better approach is perhaps should be SNR as probability of detection and tracking relies on SNR. Radar "lock-on" or Tracking is typically initiated at very high SNR condition e.g 24 dB. Which correspond to 90% PD for Swerling-1 Target. Also the angular accuracy can be calculated more definitively. This approach is more "frequency agnostic" as you can do this in any frequency.
In my opinion that is not impossible. Airliners of the similar MTOW carry 200+ people after all.