11-18-2011, 10:45 AM | #21 | |
Join Date: Apr 2011
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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EDIT-Flaming or jetpack type supers excluded, of course. Radar guided? Probably. That uses a smaller wavelength which is great when you already know where to find your target. |
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11-18-2011, 10:46 AM | #22 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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11-18-2011, 11:27 AM | #23 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
If you're assuming "guided" only means fly-by-wire or radio controlled, sure. You can't target a laser-guided missile at an empty volume of space at all - nothing to bounce the laser off of.
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
11-18-2011, 11:38 AM | #24 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
That's what I meant by restrictions on the guidance system, though I think this distinction is why it's called semi-active laser guidance. If we assume we're talking about guidance systems in general, not just active guidance systems, there are zero air to air or surface to air missiles actually optimized for shooting at humans but if there's a known demand for shooting at supers it would be perfectly possible to build IR, optical, or radar homing missiles optimized for supers.
Last edited by Anthony; 11-18-2011 at 11:43 AM. |
11-18-2011, 11:44 AM | #25 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
If you can bounce a radar beam off him, a radar guided missile should be able to hit him - although I'd go with a proximity burster because a hard impact round will probably struggle to activate.
In fact, any guided SAM should be able to target him if you can illuminate him with the guidance system ... and that's the tricky part. |
11-18-2011, 12:11 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
The consensus seems to be that low, bird-like speeds (in the tens of mph) will be filtered out from most radar systems, but more useful, airplane-like, traveling speeds (in the hundreds of mph) will show up as odd, potentially even like an unauthorized missile launch.
So how widespread is radar coverage around the continental United States? Are fast-flying supers in pretty good shape as long as they stay a few dozen (?) miles away from metropolitan airports, major military bases, and the Mexican border, or is it dangerous to turn on your Enhanced Move (Air) just about anywhere? (And obviously a super will set off all kinds of alarm bells if she attempts to fly from San Diego to Hawaii for a clandestine vacation weekend.) |
11-18-2011, 12:25 PM | #27 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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11-18-2011, 12:39 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Canada
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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All about Size Modifier; Unified Hit Location Table A Wiki for my F2F Group A neglected GURPS blog |
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11-18-2011, 12:42 PM | #29 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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Having F-15s scrambled to your location probably qualifies.... |
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11-18-2011, 12:45 PM | #30 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Re: How visible would a flying super be on radar?
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(Obviously, we don't really *know* -- or those who do can't *say* -- but I suspect the effort and expense is impractical.) |
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Tags |
detection, flight, radar, realism, supers |
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