Bush's Trip: 747 or C-17 Which would you Choose?

Nick Coleman wrote:
Gene Storey wrote:


747.

AF1 has IR jammers on the engines. The C-17 only has flares,
and they wouldn't be good for stealth arrival.



Can you give me a few clues on this? I don't understand how IR jammers
would work. If the radiation is being emitted, then it is being emitted.
It's not like swamping a signal with a whole bunch of noise, like radar
jammers. IE the radar needs the discrete frequency returns to decode the
signal, but IR just needs IR emmissions from a point source and then zeroes
in on the point source.

Thanks,
Nick

Most missile guidance systems don't work in quite that manner. They
have various algorithms for both aiming the seeker head and determining
the validity of the received IR source. IRCM techniques include both
fooling the logic of the algorithm as well as overwhelming or blinding
the missile's IR sensor itself.

Mike