LIVEFIST: India to Acquire Raytheon Sentinel ISTAR Aircraft

smestarz

Well-Known member
Nov 30, 2017
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330
Actung Panzers
Dear Parthu

Its 30,000 km AREA which would be 175 km X 175 km approx, and that is within 15 minutes.
It should be very much possible, he did not say 30,000 km range

Cheers

30,000 km? :LOL:



This is not an AWACS/AEW plane. The purpose of an AEW is for the most part to generate a situation picture of the airspace out to a long range, and assisting the Air Force in securing and managing that airspace with their L/S-band long-wavelength radars. The DRDO-made Netra AEW radar can scan targets at over 475 km in extended range mode. Logical to assume the Phalcon can see farther.

View attachment 4517

^^ That is what a typical AEW situation picture looks like, not that different from an Air Traffic Control (ATC) screen, with data such as position vectors, aircraft identification, speed of targets etc. being constantly monitored -

View attachment 4516

The purpose of an ISTAR aircraft such as the Sentinel, on the other hand, is mostly collecting ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) of ground targets, movement of troops or locations & elevation models of stationary buildings or natural formations like mountains etc. ISTAR planes (including the Sentinel and ARC's Global 5000s) are generally equipped with Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR), and the data they collect is of a different nature -

View attachment 4519

This is not to say AEWs cannot look at ground targets or that ISTAR planes cannot scan the sky, but to say that its not their intended role.