I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:
Small drone 'shot with Patriot missile' - Small drone 'shot with Patriot missile' - BBC News
Small drone 'shot with Patriot missile' - Small drone 'shot with Patriot missile' - BBC News
Can you get a radar lock on a Phantom or equivalent?
They should have just tossed a branch in the air... everyone knows tree parts attract drones, and down em.
The article as well as the news reported small recreational quad copters (Drones) are being used in Iraq. Allegedly by ISIS. And they're not being used for recreational purposes. From the last news reports 39 people so far, have been killed by them.
Relatively small, yes. But the only metal parts of any size in a, for example, phantom, is the gimbal. Not much of a return on which to lock and track. And as you said, they are designed to track small, fast moving, targets. The signal from a small sUAS in hover would likely not get through the Doppler filter. Sounds to me like the old staged events that SDIO used to put on of their 'Star Wars' tech.Depends on the radar.
Certainly a high power, high frequency radar would have little issue because there is no clutter to confuse the issue. Patriot has to track fast moving, relatively small missiles at high altitudes.
It has a G/H band radar meaning 4 - 8 GHz. The upper end of that f range would easily detect the metal parts of a phantom sized drone probably to well over 10 km.
Relatively small, yes. But the only metal parts of any size in a, for example, phantom, is the gimbal. Not much of a return on which to lock and track. And as you said, they are designed to track small, fast moving, targets. The signal from a small sUAS in hover would likely not get through the Doppler filter. Sounds to me like the old staged events that SDIO used to put on of their 'Star Wars' tech.
.Can you get a radar lock on a Phantom or equivalent?
Radar detection does not require only metal .... any hard reflective surface and even a wet sail on a yacht reflects radar.
But trying to determine a small drone when atmospherics and all other items are being picked up ?
Nigel