Came across this via Facebook, got to be one of the funniest radar trap articles I've ever read

lol good one

That story is BS, just so you know. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/radar.asp

EDIT: A summary of issues:

* The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking air to air missile, not air-to-ground.

* Police use different radars than military planes. Radar guns are designed to measure speed, so they use Doppler. The military has different needs, and uses a different frequency.

* No competent military force on exercises would ever have missiles set to fire without pilot input. They might have live missiles, but would NEVER have them set to auto-fire, for exactly this reason. For that matter, I doubt they would have them auto-fire in an actual war zone; I think the pilot still needs to give the "fire" command.

* Yeah, those police radars? Would you believe that their range is somewhat less than "to out-of-sight military plane"?

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by cp702

While your argument does a large amount of validity to it, you must know that the AIM-9 does have ground/sea striking capability. While it was made official long ago, there is 'speculation' that the system has always held that capability.

Article of reference: http://www.flightglo...missson-335762/

Wow, did not know that. Though it is still heat-seeking, not anti-radar (unless that also changed; don't think so, though).

"Saaarge, I just clocked a blue Ford Focus going over the crest at 300 mph, give your 5 series beemer a bootful and you'll catch it."

That officer won't ever live down that he once nearly got blown up by the Dutch air force.

It's one hell of a coincidence, but I'm rather surprised that the LAZER's aren't operating on a different frequency (do laser beams even have frequencies?) than bloody top secret military laser guidance systems.

* No competent military force on exercises would ever have missiles set to fire without pilot input. They might have live missiles, but would NEVER have them set to auto-fire, for exactly this reason. For that matter, I doubt they would have them auto-fire in an actual war zone; I think the pilot still needs to give the "fire" command.

It never mentioned they were set to auto-fire, only that the weapons targeting system had locked on to "enemy radar", I am sure even with all the sophisticated military technology they'll never have an auto-fire system, after all, the pilot still needs to push the button to release the missile whether its locked onto a target or not.

And Archangel is quite right, Sidewinders are more than capable of air-to-ground strikes, being used as a basis for the development of the AMG-122A missiles, which were specifically designed

"...to detect and track a radiating ground-based air defense system radar."

To quote: "was able to override the automatic protection system before the missile was launched". Also, air-to-ground capability still doesn't address the fact that Sidewinders are heat-seeking, so are 100% useless against a radar station (being, you know, not guided by radar).

Sniper: Lasers do have frequencies. LIDAR systems use different frequencies than military systems, and don't look even remotely like a military radar. This story has no basis in reality. The link in my first post has more info.

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by cp702

I was looking on wiki (where my above quote about AMG-122A's came from) and apparently Sidewinder missiles can be programmed for a variety of tasks, which I would assume would include Air-to-ground strikes without the necessity to rely on heat-seek technology to find its target...otherwise I'd imagine Sidewinders would be extremely ineffective at self-recognizing enemy targets from friendlies...

Either way, real or fake, certainly hilarious to read...

I also live in the UK yet I couldn't find anything in the news about this.

Surely something like this would have a small little segment on it?

I was looking on wiki (where my above quote about AMG-122A's came from) and apparently Sidewinder missiles can be programmed for a variety of tasks, which I would assume would include Air-to-ground strikes without the necessity to rely on heat-seek technology to find its target...otherwise I'd imagine Sidewinders would be extremely ineffective at self-recognizing enemy targets from friendlies...

No. It doesn't matter that the AGM-122 was developed from the Sidewinder, because it was still a different missile (not just reprogrammed). No Sidewinders in service can use radar guidance. They don't have the necessary hardware.

Also, your wiki quote just shows as '...' to me. Not sure why.

Sorry I've been so hard on you, but I get annoyed when people spread stories like this as real without checking them out. Snopes is a great resource for this; it factchecks a lot of stories like this. Nothing against you.

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by cp702

Sorry I've been so hard on you, but I get annoyed when people spread stories like this as real without checking them out. Snopes is a great resource for this; it factchecks a lot of stories like this. Nothing against you.

Hehe, no need to apologize, I don't generally take anything people say over the internet personally, and FYI i never claimed it was accurate/real etc, I was brought up in a military family (most of whom went on to join the Police) so I have a rough idea of what tech the military has access to as opposed to Police etc etc etc, I just found it an amusing article (whether for itself, or the glaringly obvious flaws in the story).

EDIT: Oh, and this -

. No Sidewinders in service can use radar guidance. They don't have the necessary hardware.

sorry to say is wrong, the targeting hardware for Sidewinders can be changed, as its necessary to be able to update/upgrade the weapons as technology advances or the situation warrents.

Peace out :turned:

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by HighPriest999

Anyway, regardless of truth, it's still a very funny story.

Edited May 16, 201213 yr by cp702