U-2 spy plane caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights

Re:U-2 spy plane caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights by twistedpair on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @03:55PM (#7706718)

To start with, a reflector is passive, so it can't fail like a transponder. Failing is a problem when flying an intentionally very hard to see/detect airframe in dense civilian airways. Transponders only provide a secondary radar hit, while many (older) systems are looking for a primary hit to locate aircraft, which a reflector would do.

Before calling BS you could just Google it too. ;) For example, here is a nice explanation of the F117's reflector. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:U-2 spy plane caused widespread shutdown of U.S. flights by mikeash on Tuesday May 06, 2014 @05:20PM (#7707148)

Any system that relies on a primary hit is going to have trouble. Something as simple as a composite glider is not going to show up well[1]. I'm not aware of any ATC system that relies on primary returns.

As for Googling it, that's an interesting picture. It's not retractable, but I suppose the point is made. Perhaps the B-2's is retractable. I did Google it this time and found nothing but some random airliners.net forum posts, not exactly reliable.

[1] http://www.dg-flugzeugbau.de/radar-reflector-e.html

[ Parent | on HN ]