The F-15 fighter hit an air target with an AIM-120 medium-range missile using an infrared search and tracking system. As he writes The Drive, tests have shown that it is possible to track and determine air targets outside the line of sight without radar stations.
Infrared search and tracking systems detect and track targets by their thermal radiation. They practically do not emit electromagnetic radiation and they are insensitive to the effects of electronic warfare, which cannot be said from conventional radar stations. Low-visibility technologies also do not prevent infrared search and tracking systems from seeing targets.
In 2018, the Boeing concern agreed with Lockheed Martin to develop more than 130 Legion Pod suspended containers with an infrared search and tracking system. Under the terms of the contract, the Legion Pod must be integrated and tested on F-15 fighters of the US Air Force. Last year, the US Air Force launched a rocket with it for the first time. It was a short-range AIM-9X — no more than 35 kilometers.
The F-15 shot down a QF-16 aerial target for the first time using an AIM-120 medium-range missile and a Legion Pod suspended container with an infrared search and tracking system during tests on August 5. Tests have shown that it is possible to determine and track air targets outside the line of sight without radar systems.
Legion Pod was tested not only on fighters, but also on drones. Earlier we wrote about how he was suspended on a jet Avenger. Most likely, the tests were carried out as part of the program for the development of an unmanned slave.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva
