I think so, they are planning to have another 3 built this year, bringing the fleet up to 6, Can't see why they couldn't then start production in another 12 months. Build 25 a year for 3 years, you get to bring at least 75 to the party. They may be why our Triton purchases have been less than originally planned in relation to the P8.
That is potentially quite promising IMO. With a robust modern datalink and the requisite ESM gear, they'd make a good candidate for passively locating hostile SAGs. Hell given their "attritable" status it could be worth it to send a pair on a nigh-on suicide mission if it meant getting a precise and timely fix on a hostile naval group before feeding it to an approaching salvo of MST/LRASM. Better get Boeing Aus on the phone ;-)
Yes, supporting our imaginary TLAMs with targeting information, acting as a network node and even potentially adding EW/jamming/decoys to improve survivability. It's a brilliant project, they need to make enough of them so as people accept they are attritable if need be.
The Australian National Line ie ANL is now owned by CGM-CMA of Marseille France . Has been for at least 10 years - the Darwin Trader originally had Australian crew - sorry its a bit different from military stuff but merchant marine has been my life since i sold newspapers on the Empress of Australia fm age 9 i will shut up and just look on
I was thinking about this issue the other day. I thought I’d read an article somewhere about one country (perhaps China) trying something similar already but I’m not sure….
I can see a need for a super cruising, stealthy reconnaissance drone able to operate in contested airspace being a requirement for the USA in the near future. And Australia for that matter! If various satellites are shot down or other immediate sources of information become degraded, we could end up back at the point were something like the capability offered by the old SR-71 becomes important again.
Well then if you clarify that in your post and provide a source as per the rules, you wouldn't have run ins with Moderators. That's all.
The way I see it, for an enemy fleet to detect an incoming strike package it has to utilise its sensors and to engage at long range it has to energize those sensors. Once it does that it can be localised enough for something like a LRASM or NSM to be sent to the general area and then use its own sensors to locate individual targets. If the enemy fleet is using EMCOM then they are reliant upon IRST which doesn't have the detection range of radar. So it's a bit of balancing fleet defence requirements over being covert.
Who's to say that the US doesn't already have the successor to the SR-71 fully operational and it's replacement in the prototype stage? Something like that will be so black that even a blackhole will reflect more radiation. But there's a difference between strategic reconnaissance and tactical reconnaissance with the SR-71 and its ilk being strategic reconnaissance platforms. Locating enemy fleets to provide targeting information, I would argue, is a mission for a tactical platform.
Yes with my limited knowledge, I can see it being as you described. In addition I would gather it also depends on the reason for sailing a fleet in that area. EG are they there to coax a fight with the enemy or a sneak attack?
I’d say that’s the RQ-170, or at least it may have been the prototype for a bigger subsonic reconnaissance drone. Given how long that was hidden from view, you are probably correct.
All this does is let you know they are out there, not exactly where. Or alternatively what if the SAM operator doesn’t turn on until you are well inside range, or your in a cluttered littoral environment. It’s nowhere near as simple as your statement makes it sound.
Another problem with this is the radar horizon. For a P8 sitting at its service ceiling that is about 400km, which matches uncomfortably with the cited max range of a weapon like the HQ-9C. Less of an issue for a fighter type aircraft but a serious one for a 737. The Triton might have more luck here by sitting up higher, but it's still a more trivial aerodynamic target. There is also the potential for PLAN vessels to use LPI emissions from their more modern naval AESAs to make pinpointing them even harder at this sort of range.
No doubt JORN would have an important part to play in locating surface vessels, with ISR aircraft then used to search any area of uncertainty it generated. In terms of exactly how far it can see - I don't think that's public knowledge.
Jindalee range is quoted as 1000 to 4000 kms but depends on ionospheric conditions at the time. Better at daytime and periods of high solar activity. It is reported to be able to see much further, including China - see Electronic Weapons: <b>October 31, 2004</b> (strategypage.com) and even as far as Baghdad in optimal conditions. The later story allegedly involved a stealth craft and has been discussed earlier in this forum. It really is one of CoA crown jewels, so I doubt anyone is going to confirm that we can see President Xi picking his nose in Beijing. It's a system that will continually benefit from improving the processing power as it's ability to detect targets depends on it's ability to model the ionosphere accurately in real time.
This seems to be the premise behind the PRC's GJ-11 UAS. It is shrouded in secrecy at the moment but to my untrained eye, it looks unnervingly stealthy. If your SAG wasn't protected by a robust BARCAP I could see it being very difficult to deal with. Plus, if the result of not dealing with it is an incoming ASBM salvo, then the stakes just get that much higher, but I digress...
AFAIK this is kind of how LRASM is supposed to work. It has its own onboard ESM system which allows it to passively narrow down the location of its target before it descends to a wavetop terminal approach and completes the endgame with the help of its IIR seeker. Theoretically, you might be able to use missile-to-missile datalinks to get a given salvo to act as something of a hunting pack, sniffing out the target before they collectively go after it. While I am not sure if this sort of thing has been implemented in the LRASM, it wouldn't surprise me at all - IIRC some of the old Soviet AShMs used to do similar things.
The LRASM does have missile to missile data links and one can act as a master missile.
Was about to say…