US 7,523,692 B1 · Aircraft defense system against manpads with IR/UV seekers

Abstract

An inexpensive, efficient and lightweight integrated small decoy system towed behind an aircraft to power an intense IR emitter for drawing in a missile with an IR sensitive guidance system away from vulnerable parts of a defended aircraft is combined with a system for simultaneously cloaking the aircraft with spectral bands of atmospherically scattered UV solar radiation reflected, and radiated from UV radiant sources mounted on the aircraft to defend against advanced MANPADS missiles with guidance systems sensitive to UV shadows cast by an aircraft in a background sky radiance of atmospherically scattered solar UV. Both the reflected and direct cloaking UV emittance may be spatially and/or temporally modulated to confuse an incoming missile. The UV aspect of this invention may also be combined with other C-MANPADS missiles, such as DIRCM, to provide additional defensive capability.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A method for cloaking an aircraft flying during daytime through the atmosphere, the steps comprising:

a) locating electromagnetic radiation sources at various positions on exterior surfaces of an aircraft structure that radiate in at least one particular spectral band of solar radiation scattered in the atmosphere;
b) treating the exterior surfaces of the aircraft structure to reflect electromagnetic radiation at the particular spectral bands radiated by the radiation sources;
c) irradiating selected exterior surfaces of the aircraft with radiation from the variously located electromagnetic radiation sources during selected portions of a flight of the aircraft.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Aircraft defense system against manpads with IR/UV seekers

Life of this patent

Aircraft defense system against manpads with IR/UV seekers

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17