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In reply to the discussion: Pentagon can't account for 8.5trillion in the last decade and a half.... [View all]jmowreader
(50,557 posts)The system has an effective range of 200 miles, and it puts out a LOT of frequencies at one time; each frequency can track one target as is the case with any radar (except air traffic control radars which respond to transponders in the target aircraft, which the enemy refuses to install), so if you want to track lots of targets you need lots of frequencies. It's also a phased-array radar, which introduces a whole new set of issues. Phased array radar builders take a shitload of little radar transceivers and assemble them into matrices like the one that comprises the screen on your computer. They then sweep across them, again like the screen on your computer, to produce the radar image. If there are 15,000 transceivers in the array - I don't know how many there are because it's one of those things You Don't Need To Know - each one is only putting out 100 watts...the flip side is, because the system is tracking so many targets there are modes in which the whole array is emitting.
The seagulls and albatrosses don't care about that; they do care that if they fly too close to one of these antennas when it's on, they die instantly.