That warship programme on channel 5

[#1]

Tuned in to it part way through this evening.. fascinating stuff.

The first scene i saw was a RN sailor telling us about this new "most advanced radar in the world" which the ship operates.

In the next scene a Russian ship they were monitoring vanishes from radar requiring the RN to launch a helicopter to verify it's position.

I couldn't help but think someone needs to look up the definition of advanced.

[#2]

Yeah... I was a bit confused about that..... Can`t remember the exact distance from Duncan that they "found" this russian ship... but... surely it was showing on satellite surveillance back in the U.K.  most ships have a system of identification, called A.I.S. which gives the ships position on a chart, its course and speed.... true... it can be switched off... but even so, one would expect the R.N. to have a radar capable of picking up ships within 25 miles before the curvature of the earth took effect. 

The warnings to the russian pilots to stay 2 miles away from the advanced radar, was, I think, a bit  of hocum pocum... as they are not likely to heed that warning... ( probably because they have been tasked to do, whatever.... ) and the warning did not give a reason why... It could damage your electronics and navigation systems...  even so, I think I remember someone on the bridge stating that they did come within 200 yards of the ship on the beam... and still managed to fly away in safety..

The russian pilots were obviously testing and probing, gaining intelligence,  in just the same way as the Duncan was with the "spy ship"... it was a god given chance for them to find out about our most up to date warships, and what technology we employ... ! 

[#3]

If a human were to get within close proximity of a normal radar it would cook them internally however the other side of military grade hardened metals that the ruskies build their planes from is going to provide strong protection against that.

If memory serves, long wave radio frequencies can make it round the curvature of the earth. If this most advanced radar ever was blocked by the ruskies then clearly it isn't the most advanced and the ruskies have other tricks up their sleeves. I also can't help but wonder just how much this radar system cost - clearly it isn't quite as useful as we were led to believe if they then have to burn thousands of pounds of turbine juice to send a helicopter looking for the ship.

The big fella that was congratulating his staff didn't seem to have a firm grasp of it all either. There's the bloke on the radio telling the aircraft to move away for their own safety and at the same time as he's talking another specialist is blowing his high pitched panic whistle calling out more aircraft that they're getting worried about which will surely be picked up by the ruskies when they analyse the recordings. Surely the first rule of engagement should be to never show your weak side but blowing the whistle like that and raising the alarm about more aircraft showing up is clearly giving the game away. No wonder one of the pilots flew off leaving a "good luck guys" message.

At the end of the day it's all just sabre rattling anyway - nobody will fire and we all know why but even so, i couldn't help but feel that our one little boat was going to be on the losing side if it did.

[#4]

If the enemy can get to within 200 yards of your ship at what point do you decide to fire before they do.

Sure we are not at war but I wonder what instructions US captains have ? I suspect a enemy aircraft would not get that close to a US ship without being shot down ?

Even in peace time there have been incidents where passanger aircraft have been shot down by mistake and they are much further than 200 yards away.

[#5]

There is already an existing thread on this.

https://community.plus.net/t5/General-Chat/Navy-News/m-p/1592507#M249439

Maybe they can be merged.

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