Chaff and flare are countermeasures used by military planes and helicopters to help evade a missile attack by an enemy aircraft. For the non-stealthy fourth-generation assets that make up the bulk of the services’ inventory, these systems are pivotal to that aircraft’s defense. RELATED
What is the purpose of chaff and flare?
Chaff and flare are countermeasures used by military planes and helicopters to help evade a missile attack by an enemy aircraft. For the non-stealthy fourth-generation assets that make up the bulk of the services’ inventory, these systems are pivotal to that aircraft’s defense.
What is a chaff?
Chaff is a radar countermeasure that is equipped in most modern warplanes or other targets to protect against radar-guided missiles. Chaff is actually a cluster of tiny, thin pieces of aluminum, metallic glass fiber or plastic.
What is the best location for a chaff or flare dispenser?
A good chaff or flare dispenser is located as far forward on the aircraft as you can get it, so that the chaff or flares can blossom before they get past the tail. A radar may be locked onto the aircraft, but the chaff or flares present a bigger target than the aircraft itself, so the radar can shift lock onto the chaff.
How does chaff show up on radar?
If they are being reflected to the radar, there is a dot visible on the radar. This can be an aircraft but also lots of birds. Now, chaff is made of aluminium or metallized glass fibre or plastic. So, when the aircraft spreads a big cloud of that chaff, it is visible on the radar. And this can work like a curtain.
Is chaff the same as flares?
Chaff is used to spoof radar guided (active or semi active) missiles. Flare is used to spoof heat seeking (passive) missiles. Chaff pods contain several small metallic parts of similar size and shape and their aim is to create false returns to the radar beaming the targeted aircraft.
What is flare in fighter jet?
A flare or decoy flare is an aerial infrared countermeasure used by a plane or helicopter to counter an infrared homing ("heat-seeking") surface-to-air missile or air-to-air missile.
What is chaff used for?
Chaff is indigestible by humans, but livestock can eat it. In agriculture it is used as livestock fodder, or is a waste material ploughed into the soil or burned.
How does chaff look like?
Chaff is actually a cluster of tiny, thin pieces of aluminum, metallic glass fiber or plastic. When released/deployed by the target aircraft, it appears as a cloud of small targets to the incoming radar-guided missiles.
Why are Russian helicopters dropping flares?
Videos show Russian military helicopters operating over Ukraine, with several releasing flares to confuse anti-aircraft defences near Vyshhorod, less than 20 kilometres from Kyiv.
How long do aircraft flares burn?
Handheld flares must burn for at least one minute at an average luminosity of 15,000 candelas, while aerial flares must burn for at least 40 seconds with a 30,000-candela average luminosity. Both should burn in a bright red color.
Is chaff harmful to humans?
Toxicity of Chaff and its Constituents (1999) concluded that the primary constituents of chaff (aluminum, silica glass, and stearic acid) will have no “adverse impact (on) human and environmental health”.
What does the Bible say about the wheat and the chaff?
The wheat when first thrashed lies in one heap with chaff and straw, and is after winnowed to separate it; so the faithful are mixed up in one Church with the unfaithful; but persecution comes as a wind, that, tossed by Christ's fan, they whose hearts were separate before, may be also now separated in place.
What is a chaff meaning?
Definition of chaff (Entry 1 of 3) 1 : the seed coverings and other debris separated from the seed in threshing grain. 2 : something comparatively worthless a few kernels of wisdom amid much discursive chaff— Steven Raichlen. 3 : the scales borne on the receptacle among the florets in the heads of many composite plants.
Is chaff still used?
Modern chaff While foil chaff is still used by certain aircraft, such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber, this type is no longer manufactured.
Why do planes release chaff?
Chaff and flares, also referred to as defensive countermeasures, are dispensed by military aircraft to avoid detection and targeting by enemy air defense systems. Pilots deploy these countermeasures when threats are detected.
Which country has chaff?
The Indian Air Force [IAF] and the Indian Navy have tied up with the Defence Research Development Organisation [DRDO] for the CHAFF technology to shield warships and aircraft against missile attacks. India is only the second country after the United States to develop this technology.
What does having a flare mean?
Answer: The definition of “flare” is a worsening of the disease process. If you have arthritis, you've probably experienced a flare at one time or another – your disease seems to be well under control for a while, then suddenly your joints become inflamed and painful. You may experience general malaise and fatigue.
How does a flare work?
During flaring, excess gases are combined with steam and/or air, and burnt off in the flare system to produce water vapour and carbon dioxide. The process of burning these excess gases is similar to the burning of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG), which some of us use as fuel for home cooking.
How do military flares work?
With pyrotechnic flares, a lanyard automatically pulls off a friction cap covering the exposed end of the flare as it falls from the dispenser. A friction surface inside the cap rubs against the exposed end of the flare (similar to a match-head and striking surface) and ignites the flare.
What's the definition of flares?
(Entry 1 of 2) 1 : a fire or blaze of light used especially to signal, illuminate, or attract attention also : a device or composition used to produce such a flare The airport set flares to guide the landing plane at night. 2a : an unsteady glaring light.
What is the purpose of chaff and flares?
The purpose is to confuse radar-guided or infrared-guided anti-aircraft missiles fired so that they can divert. A good definition about them is here:
What is a chaff?
Chaffs are small pieces of material that will reflect radar waves in different directions. Their goal is to disrupt attacker's radar so he can not guide his missile or will guide it on the chaffs, not the defending plane. They do not produce any smoke and are really difficult to see visually.
How is chaff spread?
Chaff is also spread out by aircraft. There are used for, what can be called "electronic war". As you know, a radar sends out electromagnetic signals. If they are being reflected to the radar, there is a dot visible on the radar. This can be an aircraft but also lots of birds. Now, chaff is made of aluminium or metallized glass fibre or plastic. So, when the aircraft spreads a big cloud of that chaff, it is visible on the radar. And this can work like a curtain. There is a wall of chaff sprayed out. Behind that wall, every aircraft is invisible and operations can be accomplished secretly.
What is chaff in aviation?
Chaff is composed of millions of tiny aluminum or zinc coated fibers stored on-board the aircraft in tubes. When an aircraft is threatened by radar tracking missiles, chaff is ejected into the turbulent wake of air behind the plane. Flares are used to distract heat-seeking missiles. Most are magnesium pellets ejected from tubes to ignite in ...
What is a flare?
0. Flares are normally pyrotechnic devices designed to create a large IR signature to capture IR targeting on missiles. There are two common types of chaff. The most common is metal based and is reflective, designed to create a field of reflections and capture the radar receiver. They are not necessarily foolproof.
What temperature do flares burn?
Most are magnesium pellets ejected from tubes to ignite in the wake behind the aircraft. These flares burn at temperatures above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the jet engine nozzles or exhaust and exhibit large amounts of infrared light. Share.
What is a flare used for?
Flares are used to distract heat-seeking missiles. Most are magnesium pellets ejected from tubes to ignite in the wake behind the aircraft. These flares burn at temperatures above 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the jet engine nozzles or exhaust and exhibit large amounts of infrared light.
What does chaff provide?
Edit: I was informed in the comments that Chaff simply provides the missile with a much larger and clearer target to hit, similar to flares.
What is chaff in radar?
Chaff is aluminized particles (looks like X-mas tree trimmings) of specific lengths, that cause microwave reflections when they are interrogated by a search or more usually by a fire-control radar. Chaff is ejected as a small cloud into the air by an aircraft coming under threat.
Why are chaffs ejected?
They are ejected by fighter aircraft to decoy heat-seeking missiles away from them. Chaff is a collection of small metallic coated particles. They are deployed in a cloud behind a fighter aircraft in the hopes that they will swcoy radar guided missiles. Fast.
What is the purpose of chaff in a missile?
Chaff is also used to confuse missiles, only this case, its job is to confuse radar guided missiles.
Why do pilots use flares?
On the modern battlefield they are one of the many tools a pilot has at his disposal to help him defeat an enemy missile. The purpose of a flare is to confuse an IR missile, that is attempting to track and hit the heat signature of an aircraft.
How do flares decoy infrared-guided missiles?
Flares decoy infrared-guided missiles by creating a bright source of infrared radiation that either prevents the missile from tracking the aircraft's heat signature, or fools it into believing that the flare is the aircraft's heat signature.
What is a flare in a missile?
A flare is basically a pyrotechnic composition, normally made from magnesium, which emits a bright light and burns at a high temperature. This is meant to confuse the infrared sensor of the guided missile, by either burning hotter than the heat source of the target, (normally the engine), or by releasing multiple flares, thereby increasing the odds that the sensor will mistake one of the decoys as the actual target. In the second scenario, the target normally makes an extreme, high-speed set of maneuvers to further increase the chances of avoiding the missile.
Is chaff a last ditch effort?
Although flares and chaff had shown some success during the early history of guided munitions, their effectiveness has dropped to a point that they are now considered as last ditch efforts. Their weaknesses include the following:
What is the importance of chaff?
One of the important qualities of chaff is that it is lightweight, allowing large amounts to be carried. As a result, after release it quickly loses any forward speed it had from the aircraft or rocket launcher, and then begins to fall slowly to the ground.
What is a chaff radar?
Chaff, originally called Window by the British and Düppel by the Second World War era German Luftwaffe (from the Berlin suburb where it was first developed), is a radar countermeasure in which aircraft or other targets spread a cloud of small, thin pieces of aluminium, ...
How to distinguish chaff from target?
Modern radar systems can distinguish chaff from target objects by measuring the Doppler shift; chaff quickly loses speed compared to an aircraft and thus shows a characteristic change in frequency that allows it to be filtered out. This has led to new techniques where the chaff is further illuminated by an additional signal from the target vehicle with the proper Doppler frequency. This is known as JAFF (jammer plus chaff) or CHILL (chaff-illuminated).
What is the effect of chaff on the display of a Würzburg Riese radar?
The effect of jamming appears in the left "jagged" half of the circular ring, contrasting with the normal "smooth" (unjammed) display on the right half of the circle, with a real target at the 3 o'clock position – on the jammed left side the real target "blip" would have been indistinguishable from the jamming.
Where did the German code for chaff come from?
The German code name came from the estate where the first German tests with chaff took place , circa 1942. Once the British had passed the idea to the US via the Tizard Mission, Fred Whipple developed a system for dispensing strips for the USAAF, but it is not known if this was ever used.
What is foil chaff?
Modern chaff. While foil chaff is still used by certain aircraft , such as the B-52 bomber, this type is no longer manufactured. The chaff used by aircraft such as the A-10, F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 consists of aluminium-coated glass fibres.
How many mils is a chaff?
The chaff is carried in tubular cartridges, which remain attached to the aircraft, each typically containing around 3 to 5 million chaff fibres. The chaff is ejected from the cartridge by a plastic piston driven by a small pyrotechnic charge.
What is chaff flare?
Chaff and flare are countermeasures used by military planes and helicopters to help evade a missile attack by an enemy aircraft. For the non-stealthy fourth-generation assets that make up the bulk of the services’ inventory, these systems are pivotal to that aircraft’s defense.
Why do chaff and flare companies appear in the media?
Though chaff and flare companies usually fly under the radar of the defense trade press, when they do appear in the media, it’s usually related to life-threatening accidents at manufacturing facilities or the like.
What did the Pentagon say about the chaff and flares?
In an October report to the White House on the health of the defense-industrial base, the Pentagon relayed concerns about the small number of domestic chaff and flare producers, and stated that weakened demand — especially for flares — could leave companies little incentive to make internal investments.
How much did Chemring spend on Kilgore Flares?
For Kilgore Flares, the changes appear to be more conventionally positive. This May, Chemring Group said it would spend $40 million to expand Kilgore’s production facility in Toone and grow the plant’s employment numbers from about 280 to 375 people.
What is a flare in the military?
25, 2012, fully loaded with live flares to be used in a training scenario. A flare is a countermeasure to enemies' infrared surface-to air or air-to-air missiles.
Why is chaff stored on airplanes?
Chaff — which comprises “millions of tiny aluminum or zinc-coated fibers” — is stored onboard an aircraft in tubes and ejected behind the plane to confuse radar-guided missiles, the Pentagon’s defense-industrial base report stated.
Who makes chaff flares?
Only one producer of chaff exists in the United States: Esterline Defense Technologies, also known as Armtec. Esterline, which also makes flares, is joined by one other domestic flare manufacturer: Kilgore Flares Co., a part of Chemring Countermeasures USA, which itself is a subsidiary of a firm based in the United Kingdom.
