Sensor on AF1

[Eclipse]

Any ideas?

[Luis R. Ramos]

Part of a defense system alerting inbounds? Or have I watched Air Force 1 and The President's Plane is Missing too many times?

[Eclipse]

I probably should have Googled first.


https://theaviationist.com/2018/10/23/these-are-the-systems-that-protect-air-force-one-from-heat-seeking-missiles/


https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/air-force-one-has-new-defensive-systems-antennas/

IRCM Jammers.

You're all welcome for this week's AE lesson.

[NovemberWhiskey]

Yeah, that distinctive look of a chalcogenide optical surface, probably for some kind of directed energy infrared countermeasure system intended to dazzle a seeker head. Looks rather too close to the engine exhaust to be a classic "hot-brick" design.

[PHall]

Part of a defense system alerting inbounds? Or have I watched Air Force 1 and The President's Plane is Missing too many times?

Take everything you saw in Air Force 1 and The President's Plane is Missing with a very large, as in boulder sized, grain of salt.
Let's just say a few liberties were taken.

[Shuman 14]

The concealed Point Defense Lasers are very nice.  ;-)

[SarDragon]

Before I read all the comments, I had the thought that it was something associated with infrared.

[Spam]

Before I read all the comments, I had the thought that it was something associated with infrared.

Modified:  I started to post some snark, but changed my mind...

To reinforce the AE lesson, if you are interested, look up the terms DIRCM and LAIRCM (the below entry has a cross reference, as the large aircraft variant, LAIRCM, is tailored to bandwidth, threat, and profiles). It is indeed some interesting stuff, and IRCMs like this are increasingly widely in service on many platforms. If you ever wondered what all those "bumps" are, you could start with these!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directional_Infrared_Counter_Measures

V/r
Spam

[Fubar]

My guess was rear view mirror, so I'm glad we got that cleared up.