Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1517379
not apply to Poland alone. Similar developments occurred in Romania - including an emergency landing made by a Ukrainian fighter, at the beginning of the war. Other inci- dents or provocative actions aiming at testing the NATO/ Polish reaction, or proving the lack of air defense capabil- ities may also happen. Escalation of the conflict outside Ukraine, although less plausible, should also be taken into account as a potential scenario. Another fact is, that war is happening next to our border, but not in Poland per se. Both the Armed Forces, as well as the state as a whole, work in a peacetime mode, and crisis management rules apply to some areas (eastern border for instance). This translates into major limitations in the po- tential use of force, decided by the peacetime principles. The detected airspace intruder needs to be identified first. Even though contemporary sensors, radars in par- ticular, can detect objects at dozens, or even hundreds of kilometers, and thus foreign, neighboring airspaces may be monitored as well (the same applies to airspace over international waters), accurate identification may be quite challenging. The radar uses radio waves and reflected signal analy- sis for detection - in its baseline form. This way, the radars can detect something. That something may be initially de- scribed, with parameters such as speed, distance, altitude, and bearing. One can roughly classify that something, and place it in one of the plausible categories. For instance, an object traveling at a supersonic speed would probably not be an airliner. Ballistic missiles are also easy to spot, given the immense speed at which they are moving. However, a cruise missile, flying at a speed of ca. 800 kph, several meters above the ground, may become a major challenge. Numerous aircraft have similar performance, civil aircraft included. Here, a major difference between wartime and peace- time occurs. During the war, civil air traffic will probably quickly disappear, while military-grade IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) systems will become the primary ID tool. When interrogated by the radar the detected fighter or ob- ject should respond with a proper code. If that does not happen, it would probably be declared hostile and engaged when possible. During peacetime, the level of uncertainty is much higher. The aircraft may be a civilian one, with its transponder damaged, disabled, or non-existent. It may also be a friendly military aircraft, a Russian military air- craft or missile, or even a Ukrainian aircraft - as it happened ANALYSIS