Effects of METOC Factors on EW Systems Against Low Detectable Targets in a Tropical Littoral Environment
Abstract
In Littoral Warfare (LW), naval operations face a whole new range of missions and types of threats. In such situations, Electronic Warfare (EW) systems are extremely important, yet constantly challenged to perform faster and more accurate detection and recognition of potential threats. However, meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) factors can severely modify the effectiveness of EW systems, particularly against low detectable targets in warm waters. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the effects of tropical littoral environments in the expected performance of generic RF and IR systems when used under these scenarios. It analyzes the outputs of propagation models included in the software suites AREPS and TAWS when using actual data from different sources in the Yucatan Channel. The results of this study demonstrated how radically the environmental conditions can change, clearly modifying the efficiency of surveillance and detection systems in shipborne platforms. Further, several issues related to the need of valuable data and additional research are addressed, while providing useful insights to operational commanders and decision makers for the use of EW systems and available Tactical Decision Aids(TDAs) at the typical scenarios of Littoral Warfare in tropical waters.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA427225
Entities
People
- Jorge V. Zarate
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School