Electro-optical missile plume detection

Missile warning systems operating in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum have become a common part of the suite of self-defence systems of modern aircraft. These systems have a low false alarm rate and a detection range of several kilometres against man-portable surface-to-air missiles. The performance of the missile warning systems depends on several factors, including weather and threat type. This paper uses a generic missile warning sensor and a recently developed model to predict missile plume UV radiance, to demonstrate the variability in detection range for a number of typical threats, weather types, aircraft speeds and warning system lay-outs. The variation in sensor performance present in the results shows that an assessment of the level of platform self-protection prior to each mission should be performed.