Chapter 4: Electronic Intercept Systems

4.1 Introduction

Electronic defense intercept systems [1] are used for timely detection of the presence in the operational scenario of one or more of the weapon systems described in Chapter 3. In this chapter the following will be analyzed:

• Radar warning receivers (RWR): used to detect an enemy radar before it is able to give firing instructions to its associated weapons;

• Electronic support measures (ESM) systems: used to detect the presence of an enemy platform in the intercepted electromagnetic scenario before it has had time to detect the defended platform;

• Electronic intelligence (ELINT) systems: used to gather strategic data drawn from deep inside the territories of potentially hostile nations;

• Infrared warning receivers (IRWR): used to detect the presence of enemy platforms by their infrared emissions;

• Laser warning receivers: used to detect the presence of a laser illuminator or laser range finder;

• Communications intercept systems: used to intercept and locate the enemy emissions for tactical purposes and communication intelligence (COMINT) equipment used to discover strategic information concerning enemy communications systems.

It is worthwhile to emphasize that in the last 10 years, radar and missile systems exploiting LPI waveforms have been recognized as one of the major problems to be solved. In order to do this, more sensitivity in RWR/ESM intercept systems is required, but this makes the problem of false alarms worse due to overlapped pulses and interferences. In fact, by increasing the sensitivity, the traffic intercepted by the receiver increases considerably, as does the...