techniques have been enhanced by the Bellingcat investigative website, which in early 2022 unveiled its Radar Interference Tracker (RIT). This tool exploits Dan’s discovery, showing where C-band interference has cropped up on Sentinel imagery and when this interference occurred. And the Cry Goes Up – So what? At first blush, having information freely available on the location of C-band radars, particularly those tasked with air defence, seems like an intelligence bonanza. Once you work out where a radar is, and its approximate area of coverage, you can plan to avoid that radar. This is particularly important if planning aircraft sorties into hostile airspace. It is imperative that radar coverage is outflanked, when possible, to ensure aircraft are kept from discovery for as long as possible. Worryingly, this electronic intelligence (ELINT) derived from the SAR imagery may be tactically useful. For example, a series of SAR images presents the positions of C-band radars protecting a northern European country. This information would be invaluable to a nefarious actor planning ingress and egress routes for combat aircraft to and from their targets. Secondly, some of these C-band radars may not always be active. They may protect a specific locale, but only be activated in times of tension, or when air attack seems imminent. By reviewing SAR interference caused by C-band radars in a given area over the past year, for example, one can determine when these radars are active. For example, the RIT identified that the Royal Saudi Air Defence Force has an MIM-104D/F Patriot battery stationed in Dhahran, on the Kingdom’s east coast. In April 2021, the radar was switched off, yet later pictures in June showed it was active. It was noteworthy that the tempo of violence between Saudi Arabia and Houthi cadres in Yemen’s civil war steadily increased from early 2021. This culminated in Houthi UAV and ballistic missile attacks why C-band is used for Raytheon’s AN/MPG-65 ground-based air surveillance radar – the radar that accompanies the MIM-104 Patriot medium-range/high-altitude surface-to-air missile system. Dan has harnessed the C-band interference these radars cause to the Sentinel satellites’ SARs to reveal their locations. For example, he has pinpointed several AN/MPG-65 radars deployed around the Middle East. This includes radars equipping UAE MIM-104F systems deployed to Yemen, and US Army Patriot batteries deployed to help protect the US deployment at Shaikh Isa airbase in Bahrain are also visible. Dan’s Operating from Toulouse and virtual desks around the world, Dr Thomas Withington is an acknowledged authority on all issues EW and C4ISR-related. He is a regular contributor to MilTech. Synthetic aperture radar provides highly detailed pictures of the ground below and is unaffected by obscurants like cloud or smoke, as shown by this detailed image of the UAE’s Palm Islands. (Photo: CGG) C4ISR Forum MT 3/2022 · 69
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM5Mjg=