PROVIDING aircrew with high confidence levels in laser warning systems is one of the main long-term aims of a recent series of successful air, land and sea experiments. The trials tested ADF and international laser threat systems against a variety of laser warning sensors mounted on board a C-130H aircraft and a landing craft heavy.
Dr Olivia Samardzic, of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, said the data would lead to more informed decisions about which systems to buy in the future and what improvements could be made to the ADF’s current capability.
“In the past we’ve bought different missile approach and laser warning systems without ever having the chance really evaluate them and we’ve always done the fix-up work afterwards. For once, we have been able to do some evaluation prior to there being a large investment, especially for the Air Force,†Dr Samardzic said.
“What makes a good threat warning system has always been thought to be the ability to declare a missile or laser threat but, in reality, it is not only whether the system declares the threat but also what the system’s false alarm rate is.â€
The air experiment involved ground and aircrew from No. 36 Squadron and ALSPO at RAAF Base Richmond and operational support officers from the Joint Electronic Warfare Operational Support Unit (JEWOSU) at RAAF Base Edinburgh.
The US, Canada and UK were also involved in the experiment along with DSTO’s Electronic Warfare and Radar Division and Scientific and Engineering services and Army’s 16 Air Defence Regiment.
The experiments began at Port Wakefield in South Australia, before sorties over the east coast of Australia through Canberra, Sydney, Wollongong and Brisbane. The aircraft tests were carried out from June 15-19.
“We used the long-range laser threat emulator, which was developed collaboratively between DSTO and Tenix Defence Systems, that emulates laser beam riders and laser target designators and laser range finders so you can use it to dial up characteristics of different systems and it will produce a beam that looks like one of those threats,†Dr Samardzic said.
“It was the first time we used the system to test against a moving platform. Obviously if you’ve got an aircraft in flight it’s hard to track, so we were testing if it could actually hit the aircraft with the threat emulator. It went quite well. We were [also] trying to make sure that the warning receivers that were on the aircraft were able to detect those threats.â€
The trial was to have tested some foreign and ADF counter-measures but equipment failure delayed these tests. “The sorts of effects we were looking for [from the sensors] were the potential false alarms sources of different forms of lighting, such as street lighting and strobe lighting. We were also looking at the glint off the ocean. We looked at industrial sites and in dense urban environments such as those found around large cities,†Dr Samardzic said.
DSTO plans further work testing the DSTO-developed countermeasure system on its own laser range along with further studies into improving the angular accuracy and sensitivity of laser warning receivers.
http://www.defence.gov.au/news/raafnews/editions/4614/topstories/story09.htm
Dr Olivia Samardzic, of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, said the data would lead to more informed decisions about which systems to buy in the future and what improvements could be made to the ADF’s current capability.
“In the past we’ve bought different missile approach and laser warning systems without ever having the chance really evaluate them and we’ve always done the fix-up work afterwards. For once, we have been able to do some evaluation prior to there being a large investment, especially for the Air Force,†Dr Samardzic said.
“What makes a good threat warning system has always been thought to be the ability to declare a missile or laser threat but, in reality, it is not only whether the system declares the threat but also what the system’s false alarm rate is.â€
The air experiment involved ground and aircrew from No. 36 Squadron and ALSPO at RAAF Base Richmond and operational support officers from the Joint Electronic Warfare Operational Support Unit (JEWOSU) at RAAF Base Edinburgh.
The US, Canada and UK were also involved in the experiment along with DSTO’s Electronic Warfare and Radar Division and Scientific and Engineering services and Army’s 16 Air Defence Regiment.
The experiments began at Port Wakefield in South Australia, before sorties over the east coast of Australia through Canberra, Sydney, Wollongong and Brisbane. The aircraft tests were carried out from June 15-19.
“We used the long-range laser threat emulator, which was developed collaboratively between DSTO and Tenix Defence Systems, that emulates laser beam riders and laser target designators and laser range finders so you can use it to dial up characteristics of different systems and it will produce a beam that looks like one of those threats,†Dr Samardzic said.
“It was the first time we used the system to test against a moving platform. Obviously if you’ve got an aircraft in flight it’s hard to track, so we were testing if it could actually hit the aircraft with the threat emulator. It went quite well. We were [also] trying to make sure that the warning receivers that were on the aircraft were able to detect those threats.â€
The trial was to have tested some foreign and ADF counter-measures but equipment failure delayed these tests. “The sorts of effects we were looking for [from the sensors] were the potential false alarms sources of different forms of lighting, such as street lighting and strobe lighting. We were also looking at the glint off the ocean. We looked at industrial sites and in dense urban environments such as those found around large cities,†Dr Samardzic said.
DSTO plans further work testing the DSTO-developed countermeasure system on its own laser range along with further studies into improving the angular accuracy and sensitivity of laser warning receivers.
http://www.defence.gov.au/news/raafnews/editions/4614/topstories/story09.htm