DOW-UAP-D148, AAWSAP DIRD, Detection and High-Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities, November 2010

Department of War · 11/20/10 · Las Vegas, Nevada · Document

DOW-UAP-D148, AAWSAP DIRD, Detection and High-Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities, November 2010 is indexed as a Department of War record with incident date 11/20/10 and location Las Vegas, Nevada. This document is a Defense Intelligence Reference Document (DIRD), a technical reference format used by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to capture baseline knowledge on a specific topic for later analytic use. DIRDs are best understood as reference and synthesis products rather than as original research. It is one of 38 DIRDs produced under the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP) between 2009 and 2011. Because AAWSAP s scope permitted a broad range of supporting topics, not every DIRD in the series directly concerns aerospace systems or future threat assessment. The following summary reflects the DIRD s scope and framing at the time of writing and should not be read as implying current validation of the concepts discussed. This DIRD surveys how hypersonic vehicles may be detected and tracked by exploiting the physical effects they create in flight, especially shock waves, ionized gas, hot surfaces, and turbulent atmospheric wakes. The report reviews a broad set of detection methods, including radar, infrared sensing, optical imaging, LIDAR, passive radio reflection, infrasound, and seismic techniques, and argues that the most effective systems will likely combine multiple sensor types, because each captures different features of a high-speed vehicle s passage through the atmosphere. It presents radar and infrared sensing as the strongest existing tools for operational detection, while giving particular attention to wake-based methods such as LIDAR and passive radio techniques for improving tracking, identification, and discrimination of future hypersonic aircraft. The paper identifies hypersonic vehicles as an evolving surveillance problem in which future progress will depend on better multi-sensor integration, improved wake characterization, and novel signature-exploitation techniques. Redactions have been made to protect the identity of eyewitnesses, the location of government facilities, or potentially sensitive information about military sites not related to UAP. No redactions have been made to any files released under President Trump's directive concerning information about the nature or existence of any encounter reported as a UAP or related phenomena.

Notable / anomalous element

• Comparison of Detection Technology for Hypersonic Objects. (native PDF text, page 4)
• the Infrared Radiation Emitted by Hypersonic Objects. (native PDF text, page 4)
• Peak Shock Layer Temperature for Hypersonic Objects. (native PDF text, page 4)
• Doppler RADAR provides information on turbulent intensities and eddy formation within the wake. (native PDF text, page 34)

Details

• UNCLASSIFIED//F8R: &FFIGl,liaL Mii QtPP X Detection and High Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities The Defense Intelligence Reference Document provides nonsubstantive but authoritative reference information related to iutelli ence to ics or methodolo ies. (native PDF text, page 2)
• This product is one of a series of advanced technology reports produced in FY 2010 under the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Warning Office's Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications (AAWSA) Program. (native PDF text, page 2)
• Comments or questions pertaining to this document should be addressed to!AAP Person 1 f AWSA Program Manager, Defense Intelligence Agency, ATTN: JUIAF 01/DWO-3, Bldg 6000, Washington D.C. (native PDF text, page 2)
• 16 Sky Cameras and Photographic Methods (native PDF text, page 3)
• 27 Chapter 4: Vision of Progress Over the Next 30 Years. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 28 Detectability of New Hypersonic Aircraft. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 29 Recommendation #1 Build a Database of the Wake Characteristics for Existing Aircraft. (native PDF text, page 3)
• 29 Recommendation #2 Exploit the Detectabil ity of Hypersonic Aircraft Based on the Features That Allow Them To Fly Efficiently at High Speeds. (native PDF text, page 3)

Tags: War Department, Nevada, AAWSAP, Technical research, Aircraft, Radar, Weapons