Anyone spot the Apache helicopter over London yesterday?
Discussion
Coming into work yesterday morning, just west of Battersea Park, I look up and see one of these, flying along the route of the Thames:
Very distinctive - the guns/rockets and the large awacs look-alike thing above the rotors are very easy to spot.
I've seen Chinooks alone and in convoy following the Thames westbound, but not something like this before. Any ideas what it might have been doing?
Very distinctive - the guns/rockets and the large awacs look-alike thing above the rotors are very easy to spot.
I've seen Chinooks alone and in convoy following the Thames westbound, but not something like this before. Any ideas what it might have been doing?
The AWACS thing is a battlefield radar. It scans the battlefield, identifies targets, prioritises the 256 most threatening (it MIGHT be 512 since the last overhaul) and arms weaponry to deal with them all.
Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
ferrariF50lover said:
The AWACS thing is a battlefield radar. It scans the battlefield, identifies targets, prioritises the 256 most threatening (it MIGHT be 512 since the last overhaul) and arms weaponry to deal with them all.
Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
You need to post more. Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
ferrariF50lover said:
The AWACS thing is a battlefield radar. It scans the battlefield, identifies targets, prioritises the 256 most threatening (it MIGHT be 512 since the last overhaul) and arms weaponry to deal with them all.
Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
It's also what stops the apache going upside down unlike the Dutch in theirs!! Those with it generally fall within the American remit, ours generally do more of the armed overwatch role, meaning they're passive, rather than active. That said, passive is a relative term. The difference can be best described thus: coming up against any AH is like waking up to find a grizzly bear in your tent. Except the in the British version, the bear is wearing a sparkly hat.
Simon.
As already stated its a daily occurrence for military helicopters to follow the heli lanes along the Thames.
Defcon5 said:
How does it decide which is the biggest threat?
There's a data base that's regularly updated and classed as secret that analyses the characteristics of various weapons systems (from it's performance to radar cross section), these are programmed into the Fire control radar so it recognises the threat from the radar return and then puts it into order of highest risk first.
Gassing Station | Boats, Planes & Trains | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff