Re:China says it has hypersonic missiles with heat-seeking t...
by salawat on Saturday January 01, 2022 @02:24PM
(#29761722)
Uh huh.
That is giggle worthy.
At Mach 5+ there is not one redeeming quality to a "heat-seeker" when your non-destructive turning radius is measured in miles.
Unless they think they are going to get into "hypersonic missile on hypersonic missile dogfights", in which case, have fun with that.
Hell, the physics just don't work out. You've got a detached boundary layer of superheated compressed gas sitting on top of your sensor. Any distant IR source's contribution to thermal irradiance would be a fart in the wind comparatively, and your only potential utility will be tracking things you happen to be going in the same direction as, at the same rate of speed, and incapable of changing direction faster than you can or seeing or being aware of your big f-off launch plumes from your initial boost phase.
I really don't care how precise you IR sensor is. You can get perfect resolution of the Mona effing Lisa in the IR band for all I care.
You are travelling Mach bloody 5+. In 1 second, your velocity has you going 1 mile -> this way, and your targeting system just told you you needed to go <- that way after taking a chunk of that second to even sample and analyze whatever it was hitting it's sensor, and updating it's world representation. Doesn't even help in ballistic missile defense; you're going the wrong way for your maneuvering capabilities to make a difference.
All this sounds like is a shot at trying to goad excessive defense spending a la SDI. Even taking into account a generous helping of woo space for capabilities no one is willing to admit to for national security reasons.
At Mach 5+ there is not one redeeming quality to a "heat-seeker" when your non-destructive turning radius is measured in miles.
Unless they think they are going to get into "hypersonic missile on hypersonic missile dogfights", in which case, have fun with that.
Hell, the physics just don't work out. You've got a detached boundary layer of superheated compressed gas sitting on top of your sensor. Any distant IR source's contribution to thermal irradiance would be a fart in the wind comparatively, and your only potential utility will be tracking things you happen to be going in the same direction as, at the same rate of speed, and incapable of changing direction faster than you can or seeing or being aware of your big f-off launch plumes from your initial boost phase.
I really don't care how precise you IR sensor is. You can get perfect resolution of the Mona effing Lisa in the IR band for all I care.
You are travelling Mach bloody 5+. In 1 second, your velocity has you going 1 mile -> this way, and your targeting system just told you you needed to go <- that way after taking a chunk of that second to even sample and analyze whatever it was hitting it's sensor, and updating it's world representation. Doesn't even help in ballistic missile defense; you're going the wrong way for your maneuvering capabilities to make a difference.
All this sounds like is a shot at trying to goad excessive defense spending a la SDI. Even taking into account a generous helping of woo space for capabilities no one is willing to admit to for national security reasons.