AHMAD RUSHDI said:
All of these operations would take place before the missile homing head locks on the received signal retarding from the target aircraft. It is now clear that there were no change in the radar mode of the carrier aircraft when the missile is launched. This would make the target unaware that a missile is launched towards it.
About radars, I am no expert, but AFAIK the launch of a SARH missile is detected by opponent's RWR gear because of the illumination signal. I saw on this forum that MiG-23M izd 323 radar have a separate illumination horn included in the combined irradiator. But later designs like N-019, -001 don't have this feature, they use the same irradiator sending one pulse for angle error/range/closure velocity, then one pulse for illumination and so on. Also the illumination pulses can be frequency-modulated in the case of R-27R/ER and in this way the radiocorrections are send to the missile.
Now here comes my question, I hope it doesn't sounds silly.
What about if the radar after achieving the lock immediately switches on the illumination, even if there is not yet any missile launched? Is it this how is actually done in reality? In this way the adversary will not know the precise moment of launch. Also in the before launch intercept phase false radiocorrection can be sent, to make everything look realistic, so when the missile is launched nothing will really change. Sure, the enemy knows from intelligence your Drmax1 and Drmax2, but not knowing precisely the moment can be important.
Precisely, how the mechanism actually works let's say when a F-15 detects that a SARH missile was launched towards it? Precisely how the RWR knows?