997 In September 2, American Lockheed Martin officially shaped the test machine YF-22, and was accepted by the US military and obtained the qualification for mass production. This new fighter aircraft installed in the US military is the F-22 "Raptor" fighter, and is the world's first stealth fighter to be put into service on on a large scale.
F22
Because the value of F-22 in the traditional radar RCS (radar cross-sectional area) is less than 0.01 square meters, , so its strategic threat is very great. In order to target the stealth fighter of the US military, China spent $55 million to import the "Vera" anti-hidden passive radar from Czech , but was eventually ruined by the United States. However, just when the United States thought it could contain China, China used its other hand to play a more advanced anti-hidden radar.
China's first attempt to purchase anti-scene radar
When the US military developed the F-22, a stealth-capable fighter, at the end of the 20th century, it had a considerable impact on China. Especially after the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in in 999 and the incident of the Chinese and American South China Sea collision in 001, domestic knowledgeable people have clearly realized that the strategic threat from the United States is very strong.
2001 China-US South China Sea Collider Incident Backtracking Diagram
In order to target US F-22 and B-2, which make traditional radar powerless, China is determined to first introduce advanced anti-stealth radar technology from overseas, and implements the "buy first and then build" plan. Stealth fighters such as
F-22 and B-2 refract and absorb radar waves through unique structural design and advanced stealth coating , thereby achieving a sharp drop in RCS value. But in the end, they can only absorb centimeter waves of traditional radars, and cannot completely avoid a large number of civilian third-party signal sources in dense electromagnetic environments.
The first stealth fighter to be put into service on a large scale, F22
Based on this principle, 2000, the Czech Republic, developed a "Vera" anti-stealth passive radar. can finely monitor all mobile phone signals, radio and other civil third-party electromagnetic environments in a designated area. Once a stealth unit breaks into this area, the inevitable electromagnetic disturbance it brings will be captured by the "Vera" radar, and the specific coordinates of the stealth unit are calculated by the radar.
At the National Defense Exhibition that year, the "Vera" anti-hidden radar successfully captured the trace of the B-2 250 kilometers away, which amazed the world.
"Vera" anti-stealth radar has excellent performance
"Vera" anti-stealth radar inventor is Furpech of ERA. In 2004, faced China's introduction intention, ERA company offered a sky-high price of US$55 million. However, in the face of national defense and security, China still agreed to this offer.
However, after learning about China's contact with ERA, the United States actually directly acquired the Czech company by Lockheed Martin for billions of dollars in . completely interrupted China's path to introducing the "Vera" anti-hidden radar.
Lockheed Martin's production line
Another way out
American Lockheed Martin's The intention to acquire ERA is very clear - Americans will never watch their latest stealth fighter jet mastered by other countries. But they did not expect that China would not "put eggs in the same basket". While in contact with the Czech ERA company, China also tried to introduce the "armor" anti-hidden radar developed by the former Soviet Union from Ukrainian .
The technical principle of the "Armor" anti-scene radar is basically the same as that of the "Vera" radar, but it uses the triangulation method. forms a detection unit through three radars, and calculates the coordinates, speed and other information of the stealth unit through different information perceived by the three radars.
radar discovers the target process to restore
"Armor" anti-scene radar's maximum detection distance is 600 kilometers, and "Vera" radar is only 450 kilometers. However, due to excessive pursuit of accuracy and detection distance, the "Armor" anti-hidden radar can only track 40 units, and the is not as effective as the "Vera" radar that can track 200 units.
Because the transaction between China and Ukraine happened during China's purchase of the "Varyag" aircraft carrier , the United States' attention was attracted by the aircraft carrier transaction between China and Ukraine, so it failed to interfere in China's introduction of the "Armor" anti-hidden radar in a timely manner. At the end of 2004, four "armor" passive anti-hidden radars successfully entered China secretly.
China has introduced the "Armor" anti-hidden radar
The strong rise of domestic anti-hidden radar
After introducing the "Armor" anti-hidden radar, China has not forgotten its original intention of "buy first and then build", and China Electronics Technology Group quickly dismantled and analyzed this advanced radar product. After the emergency research team, the technology of the "Armor" anti-hidden radar has been initially understood, so the development of the domestic anti-hidden radar was put on the agenda.
In 2005, the "YLC-20 Passive Detection Project" was officially launched. China Electronics Technology Group invested a lot of manpower and material resources in this project and finally achieved rich scientific research results. YLC-20 domestic anti-hidden radar is one of them.
China has developed the YLC-20 domestic anti-hidden thunder
Its maximum detection distance for stealth units is 400 kilometers, and can track up to 50~100 units of . The performance of is similar to the combination version of "Vera" radar and "Armor" radar.
At the 006 Zhuhai Air Show , the debut of the domestic YLC-20 anti-scene radar caused a sensation, and the leading myth of the US stealth fighter jet has shown signs of shaking.
But this is not the end point of China's anti-scene radar technology.
PLA's other anti-stealth radars
In 999, , then deputy director of the 38th Institute of China Electronics Technology Group, Wu Jianqi , saw the news that the US military B-2 bombed the Chinese embassy, and was filled with righteous indignation: "In time, I must make the American stealth aircraft into scrap iron!" So, he decided to start from the blank "-meter-wave radar " field, targeting the US military's stealth fighter from a new perspective.
Academician Wu Jianqi
meter wave radar is a new type of radar with better stealth breaking effects on stealth fighters in . is different from traditional radars that use centimeter waves. Since the size of fighter is basically the same as the wavelength of meter wave radar, this makes the radar wave generates the resonant effect when detecting stealth units, and thus completely exposes the specific coordinates of the stealth fighter.
Before Wu Jianqi, countries such as the United States, Britain and France tried meter wave radar technology, but none of them achieved practical results.
However, Wu Jianqi innovatively borrowed the technical ideas of phased array radar . arranged multiple small meter wave radars on the same launcher using electronic scanning methods, and then synthesized the detection images of many small meter wave radars to finally obtain accurate stealth target information.
In 2012, the YF-26-meter wave anti-scene radar was successfully developed, and in technical experiments, successfully captured stealth units with RCS values less than 0.01 square meters at 450 kilometers.
China has also developed the YF-26-meter wave anti-shock radar
, which means that the US military's stealth ceiling F-22 fighter will also "run naked" in front of the YF-22 radar. At this point, Wu Jianqi realized his grand wish to turn US stealth aircraft into scrap iron.
