How does aircrafts find out they have been locked on before the lunch of a missile?
For anything other than a passive lock, ie a passive heat seeking missile, missile lock is detected by measuring the amount and type of radiation transmitted from the locking device to the aircraft. For example, a radar lock typically works by frequently painting the target aircraft with radio energy. This radio energy can be detected by the target aircraft which then alerts the pilot of the impending threat. Passive devices are much harder to detect and their complexity puts them out of the scope of this question. @smart alec Detecting a radar lock has absolutely nothing to do with the heat signature of the missile. The ONLY way to detect a radar lock is to detect the RF energy. Using a combination of UV, IR, and radar an aircraft can detect an inbound missile, but none of those will give advanced warning that the aircraft has been locked, much less if its a passive/active radar lock. UV and IR are used to detect inbound missiles with passive locks, ie passive IR or passive radar, but they are not nearly as accurate as detecting the energy from an active lock. Edit: If you want to get all self righteous then maybe you should read the very last sentence of my original post where I stated that passive detection is much more complex--not impossible. Again, you're missing the entire point of this question. The asker isn't looking for an in depth explanation about how IR and UV systems are used together to come up with a countermeasures solution, and he doesn't care about MANPADS, he was asking for incredibly basic information. Talking about how an aircraft detects RF energy is a whole lot easier than discussing the pros and cons of UV and IR passive detection--and its the same reason why active detection existed decades before passive detection.
How do military aircraft know they are being locked on?
If the launcher uses laser beam rider guidance then the aircraft may have LWR (Laser Warning Receiver). If the launcher has IR illuminator then aircraft’s IR/UV sensor can warn. If the launcher has other LoS (Line of Sight) guidance like optical locking &/or the missile has passive IR or optical seeker then aircraft’s MAWS (Missile Approach Warning System) can warn, who’s sensor can be optical, IR, UV or combination of them. Modern aircraft have omi-directional coverage of active radar & passive RWR (Radar Warning Receiver) antennas like in F-22, F-35, PAK-FA, etc.Below is an example of F-22’s MAWS & Electronic Warfare antennas:Below is a example of a multi-spectral MAWS which can sense in visible, IR & UV spectrum, also has LWR:-Below is example of F-35’s electronic warfare antennas:-Below is example of F-35’s 6 MAWS/MLD sensors giving complete spherical coverage. Same scheme is used in F-22:-Below is similar scheme of optical MAWS/MLD & electronic warfare antennas used in PAK-FA:-Below is example of Rafale’s suite of sensors:-Below is J-20’s MAWS suite similar to that of F-22 & F-35:-Below is example of Su-30 MKM’s sensor suite:-Below is example of upgraded MiG-29’s & MiG-35’s sensor suite:-
How does a military pilot know that an enemy missile is approaching him?
From ground (or airborne) control whose radars pick up the missile. They then radio the location and heading of the missile. Sometimes they are even able to figure out the type of missile through combined intel and study of trajectory. This info is then used advantageously by the controllers and the pilot to evade the missile.From radars onboard the aircraft. Fighter jets usually have a (very powerful) radar upfront and a (small) radar in the rear. This helps them "see" incoming missiles. Some planes even have infrared camera (of sorts) which lets them see the bright exhaust of the rockets motors in missiles.Radar guided missiles that have radar installed in their heads (its in the name) emit radar signals. Duh. These signals too can be picked up by receivers on the aircraft warning the pilot of an unbound radar guided missile.
Does a fighter pilot know when another aircraft has a heatseeking missile lock on it?
Does a fighter pilot know when another aircraft has a heatseeking missile lock on it?Generally, no.Radar guided missiles are fairly easy to detect, assuming that the system circuitry is calibrated to pick up the frequency the missile’s radar is using, which it usually will be. Radar guided missiles are what would be known as ‘active homing’ missiles.Heat seeking missiles do not emit radar signals and monitor the reflected signals for guidance. They focus on intense infra red signatures, such as that of the heat that the target aircraft’s engines generate. This makes them ‘passive homing missiles’.However, even these missiles, while not radiating any radiation intentionally, do emit some infrared radiation through the short duration burn of the rocket motor used for propulsion and they are a weapon large enough to reflect a small radar return. Pulse Doppler radar is often used to detect incoming heat seeking missiles, unfortunately, they have short range and a short burn duration, meaning the time from launch to impact is only several seconds. That’s not much time to receive a warning and actually do something about it!As far as I’m concerned, an effective warning system that can detect and alert the pilot to an incoming heat-seeking missile should probably just annunciate a loud “Goodbye!” because that missile is going to be exploding at about the time the pilot comprehends it and he might not even be able to get his mouth open to utter any profanity first.
How does a fighter jet lock onto and keep track of an enemy aircraft? Can an aircraft detect that it has been locked onto, or is it just a convenient plot device in movies?
Either through the use of onboard electronics or with the help of an AWACS aircraft (airborne warning and control system), The AWACS plane uses a powerful airborne radar and large onboard computer systems to track enemy planes up to 250 miles away the number of active targets that can be tracked at one time is a classified figure. The AWACS plane then uses encrypted radios to assign nearby fighters to targets and transmit the tracking data to them. The advantage of this system is it prevents radar beam tracking anti-aircraft missiles from attacking the responding fighter aircraft providing emissions stealth to the attacking force.In the absence of AWACS aircraft a fighter can opt to use it's phased array radar system to look for and trace distant targets or it can remain emission stealthy and let the infared tracker on it's short range anti aircraft missile to find an lock onto enemy planes. The modern American fighters such as the super Hornet and the F22 and Joint Strike Fighter also are being fitted with helmet mounted electronics that tell the heat seeker to look in the direction of the pilots gaze for targets to acquire.If the pilot chooses to unmask from stealth mode and turn on his radar only one plane need do so that plane will act as an AWAC to the rest of the flight thus allowing them to go out front and hit the enemy when he thinks his target is still out of range.Modern combat aircraft have complex avionics and target acquisition and targeting systems all of which can communicate with each others radar systems so that combat space awareness is shared by all aircraft in the fight. This is a force multiplier making fewer aircraft capable of performing missions that in the past would have required much larger numbers of aircraft and pilots.
Aviation: How can an aircraft detect that it has been locked onto by Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile and avoid it?
Anti-radiation missiles (ARMs) passively detect electromagnetic radiation created by radios, radar, etc. They are generally used against ground based radar installations, but they can track any radiation source. ARMs produce no electronic signature, so they can only be detected by radar, visually, or through the IR spectrum. The only way to know if it has locked on to your emissions is to look at the missile and see if it is headed towards you. To avoid it, stop emitting EM energy; turn the radar and radios off. Most modern ARMs like the Standard ARM or HARM will remember the last known location of the radar, but as an aircraft is in continuous motion, the missile will pass harmlessly by.I'm not exactly sure what missile you are referring to, but modern radar guided missiles can have track-on-jam capability, meaning they can no only detect a target via radar, but can detect a target's EM energy coming from a radar or jammer. To defeat this ability, again the target turns their radar/jammer/radios off. However, if the source stops using its electronic countermeasures, the missile can switch back to active radar tracking and continue pursuing the target. If there are two jamming aircraft, they could in theory cover each other, one aircraft going dark, the other jamming, and again switching around when the missile has returned to track-on-jam, unless the missile can both track on jam and actively track with radar.Modern air to air combat is a pandora's box. If you really want to learn about it, join your country's Air Force and become an Air Battle Manager, or pilot. You'll get to learn all the latest intel on the latest tech and how battles may be fought.