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- Location
- Burgkunstadt, Germany
About 1983-84 I went to a 3 day NATO briefing. On day 2, we were about ready to go to sleep, when the next briefing started. It was about ADA. Air Defense Artillery. I spent almost my entire 20 years in or supporting ADA. I am, (thank you Lord) not a Duck hunter. At the time I was serving in a Hawk, ADA Battery. The briefing started with us seeing a Secret slide show showing the approx areas that would be under our protection. Each and every ADA Battery and Battalion were marked on a map, and the battle lines were drawn in. The speaker went on about the how and why's to the locations. The Pilots among us had partaken of a little too much of the French wine for lunch. They were about to ready fall asleep. The speaker started in on IFF. Identification, Friend or Foe. How it worked and so on. Then he said that no matter how good your IFF was, should a pilot fly into a "No Fly Zone", they would be shot down. All the sudden, the pilots were starting to wake up, and pay attention. "Say what?" was one of the comments made by the pilots. The speaker went on to explain that certain zones would be declared "No Fly Zones," and that was just what it meant. No Fly Zone. No one. IFF or no IFF.
It could be, that it is just what happened. The way ADA works, is like this. I will use Patriot for an example. The threat zones, that a commander wants protected are uploaded into the Firing Batteries Computers. And the Missile System will protect those areas. If the the computer acquires, tracks and analyzes a target, and the missile track falls out side of the protected area, the system will not waste a round on the target. By the same token, if the computer tracks a target and it in in the protected area, the Computer tells the IFF to challenge the target. There is often not a lot of time available to make a decision to fire or not. And, the IFF on the radar system may not be operational. Or, like I wrote above. The Computer was told an area is "No Fly".
The Air Force has always had a problem protecting their aircraft, against our radar systems. In 1979, after Iran took the American Embassy people hostage, we deployed forces to the Iran area. Now, all the sudden, our aircraft had to deal with U.S. made ADA systems. The aircraft had very good defensive systems for Russian made ADA systems. But the American defensive systems were not real effective against Hawk systems. And we sold LOTS of the Hawk systems to Iran. I do not know if it true. But I have heard that the short time answer to the problem was, (yes this sounds stupid) to install good old "Fuzz Buster" systems in the cockpit. When the aircraft was painted with a radar beam, the "Fuzz Buster" would warn the pilot.
Also do not forget that in the Great Sand Box war #1, we shot down 1-2 of our own aircraft also.
It could be, that it is just what happened. The way ADA works, is like this. I will use Patriot for an example. The threat zones, that a commander wants protected are uploaded into the Firing Batteries Computers. And the Missile System will protect those areas. If the the computer acquires, tracks and analyzes a target, and the missile track falls out side of the protected area, the system will not waste a round on the target. By the same token, if the computer tracks a target and it in in the protected area, the Computer tells the IFF to challenge the target. There is often not a lot of time available to make a decision to fire or not. And, the IFF on the radar system may not be operational. Or, like I wrote above. The Computer was told an area is "No Fly".
The Air Force has always had a problem protecting their aircraft, against our radar systems. In 1979, after Iran took the American Embassy people hostage, we deployed forces to the Iran area. Now, all the sudden, our aircraft had to deal with U.S. made ADA systems. The aircraft had very good defensive systems for Russian made ADA systems. But the American defensive systems were not real effective against Hawk systems. And we sold LOTS of the Hawk systems to Iran. I do not know if it true. But I have heard that the short time answer to the problem was, (yes this sounds stupid) to install good old "Fuzz Buster" systems in the cockpit. When the aircraft was painted with a radar beam, the "Fuzz Buster" would warn the pilot.
Also do not forget that in the Great Sand Box war #1, we shot down 1-2 of our own aircraft also.
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I thought I would mention that the return line from the fitting near the IP back to the tank is a -4 ( the only Oddball hose on the whole unit )
