China Builds Most Dangerous Infrared RADAR

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What has happened?

Defence industry engineers in southwestern China have built a small infrared search-and-track system,
That can pick up the heat signature of a fast-moving aircraft from an unusually long distance, the team says.
The medium-wave infrared system has detected and tracked civil aircraft from a distance of 285km (177 miles), according to a paper published in the peer-reviewed Chinese journal Infrared and Laser Engineeringon Friday.

It detects heat energy in the infrared spectrum (infrared energy is invisible to the human eye).
It displays objects based on the temperature of the object.
Warm temperatures appear in dark shades. Cold temperatures appear in light shades.
The chief advantage of IR imagery is that it’s not dependent on sunlight.

Most infrared cameras cannot see beyond a range of 20km because the relatively long infrared waves – physically equivalent to low-energy light – are easily absorbed by the atmosphere.
The heat-seeking radar can also emit a powerful laser beam to illuminate the target aircraft to gather more information, such as the number of windows on the plane, according to the researchers.
Because of its small size, the device can be mounted on a car, aircraft or even satellite for a wide range of applications, including “surveillance, early warning and [missile] guidance.
Long-distance infrared radar technology plays an important role in anti-stealth warfare.
Even as a military aircraft equipped with stealth technology can dodge traditional radar, its body and engines emit heat.

In distant target-searching mode, the radar can scan the entire sky in just a few seconds, faster than most existing heat seekers, according to the researchers.
Liu’s team said it had tested the device in challenging environments, with temperatures varying from minus 40 degrees to 60 degrees Celsius (minus 40-160 degrees Fahrenheit), and its performance remained stable.
According to the researchers, the enemy would have difficulty locating the radar because it did not emit a signal while in passive mode.
The device would also have a higher chance of survival in electronic warfare because it was difficult to jam infrared signals with existing technology.

Countries, including China and the United States, are racing to develop next-generation infrared technology that could affect the outcome of a war.
These projects include hypersonic heat seeking missiles that can identify and strike a moving target as small as a car,
And a global early warning system based on low-orbit satellites and airships that can detect the heat produced by a hypersonic weapon from thousands of kilometres away.