Chinese scientists have purportedly created a new metric wave radar array the size of a “clothes hanger,” and it can be mounted just about anywhere. They can detect and track America’s most advanced and potent stealth fighters like the F-22. Christopher McFadden of Interesting Engineering writes (abridged):
Chinese scientists have allegedly developed an anti-stealth radar that could be quietly and easily set up almost anywhere, including a rooftop, reported South China Morning Post.
Anti-stealth radar systems often need a big antenna to pick up the weak signature of stealth planes that use technology to block or deflect radar signals. This new compact system, however, if true, could prove to be revolutionary.
The metric wave radar array is comparable in size and looks like a “clothes-drying rack,” was created by Yang and his colleagues of the national laboratory of radar signal processing at Xidian University, Xian, according to a picture published in the journal.
Researchers say that in several tests done on top of a building on a university campus, the mobile device did better in terms of accuracy and range of detection.
China has a complex air defense system that includes anti-stealth radar stations, especially along the South China Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean coasts.
In 2013, Wu Jianqia, lead scientist in the military’s anti-stealth radar program, claimed that Chinese radar systems could detect and track American F-22 jets, which are thought to be the most advanced and potent stealth fighters in the world, flying several hundred kilometers off the Chinese coast.
The Chinese anti-stealth radar uses waves that are more than a meter long and have a frequency of only 3.3 feet. According to Wu, these low-frequency waves may contact the massive parts of the stealth aircraft, like its wings or tail, and produce echo signals that are more than 100 times stronger than those of military radar that uses higher frequencies.