What is the bright thing that fighter jets and attack helicopters release when on combat missions over Iraq?
436505
They are designed to confuse enemy tracking devices that can lock on to the aircraft and fire missiles at them.  They are basically countermeasures that include metallic foil chaff and to disrupt radar detection, decoy flares to disrupt infrared, and electronic countermeasures to disrupt other targeting and communications systems. However, land and sea-based forces can also use such countermeasures as well as smoke-screens that can disrupt laser ranging, infrared detection, laser weapons, and visual observation.
762445
More complex radar systems, like those used at airports, allow radio waves to be imaged on a computer screen. They send out a beam of radio waves (like a flashlight sends out light), collect the waves that reflect of off distant objects, and reconstruct the wave pattern into an image (like the eye does with light). The result is displayed for the operator to see.
479147
www.Ogrish.com\n\nhttp://www.ogrish.com/archives/insurgency_group_claims_to_have_shot_down_an_american_helicopter_Apr_05_2006.html
25218
Stealth jets, especially the F-117 use a special radar anti-reflective coating and sharp angles to deflect radar signals making them hard to detect on radar and you can't find something if you can't detect it, unless you have a ground spotter calling in coordinates but by the time it is called in the jet has already flown over.  The engine on a stealth jet are also designed to minimize heat exhaust and run cooler than your average jet engine, again, making it hard for heat tracking missiles to lock on.  The skin of a stealth jet, namely the F-117 make it very unstable and requires almost complete computer control during flight, though the pilot can make manual course corrections, it's stability during flight is maintained by a computer without the computer the jet would be too unstable for a human to fly.\n\nThey are stealth to some extent and they mostly fly at night, also, rain somewhat dulls the effects of the special coating and sharp angles of the plane so they typically fly at night in either cloudy or clear skies and in those conditions, they are very, very hard to find.  A F-117 appears to a radar, if it sees it at all to be a small bird like a seagull.\n\nDon't ask what the coating is made of, it is classified.
597670
doesn't really exist.  Commonly referred to as MACH.  As you approach Mach the air has trouble getting out of the way fast enough.  This creates a pressure build up.  (why modern jets have swept wings) Once exceeded the jet creates a sonic boom.  \n\nThe sound is still created, but it can't keep up with the source. Try to find a jet by sound alone.  Then find it visually.  It's kinda hard.  Even if directly overhead.
391573
As far as I know, 2 Libyan Su-22s in 1981 (US Navy F-14s), 2 Libyan MiG-23s in 1989 (US Navy F-14s again), quite the few during Gulf War and a bunch over Yugoslavia in the 1990s . Visit ACIG for more detailed information.
148430
A ultra-high frequency radio signal is generated by a magnitron transmitter tube.  A burst of signal is transmitted to a parabolic antenna which focuses the signal in one direction, through a hollow tube called a waveguide.  Just like a light is focused in a flashlight!\nFollowing the transmission the radar set goes into receive mode and receives the reflection of the transmitted signal.  The time delay represents the distance away from the transmitting / receiving antenna. The further away the longer it takes the signal to travel.  Now something will only be visable to radar if it is larger than a quarter wavelenth.  What this means to you in practical terms is this something can be so small that it cannot return a signal on some frequency!  So Radars that search for enemy aircraft have multiple frequencies so that they can detect multi-sized targets.  Aircraft when they come at you present a small target, although they are large.  Anyway Hope I have been of some use.\n\nHave a good day.\nIf you need more detail ask in additional details I can answer any specific.\n\nAPS
621428
First of all, don't listen to adm_maaf. I was on a tank in Iraq that took about a dozen rpgs while it was there, and all they did was scratch the paint. That said, an aerial bomb has a hell of a lot more destructive energy than an rpg. Not to mention the 30mm chain gun on the A-10 was specifically designed to penetrate armor. Good thing they're on our side.
833326
LArge amount of firepower, small delivery package
366915
They are doing work with lasers on effecting weather and often people have 'cannons' for hail with the idea that the sound waves will break up the ice. I'm not sure about bombing the storm. Storms are created by a range of factors that would not be all effected by a bomb. The website is complicated but talks about the use of high frequency waves to achieve this. most military applications are to do with clearing fog etc...to allow for a strategic advantage.
486100
Missiles use passive IR/UV sensors. The missiles look for the infrared light (heat) produced by the target airplane's engines and track the airplane by following that light. The missiles also identify the UV "shadow" of the target and use that identification to distinguish the target from other heat-producing objects.\n\nIf you have read about motion detectors, you know that motion-sensing lights use passive infrared sensors. The sensors in a motion-sensing light are tuned to the temperature of a human being. They look out at the world, and when they see a sudden change in the amount of infrared light they are sensing, they assume it's because a person walked into the area, and they turn on the light.\n\nA motion-sensing light needs only one sensor. A Stinger missile needs a whole array of them, because its job is to track the target while it is flying. The nose of a Stinger missile has, essentially, an infrared digital camera in it. This camera might have an array of anything from 2x2 (in older designs) to 128x128 (in the newest Sidewinder design) infrared sensors that receive an infrared image of the scene. When the soldier gets ready to launch the missile, the missile must have the target visible in roughly the center of this sensor.\n\nWhile the missile is flying, the image of the airplane that it is trying to hit may become off-center on the image sensor. When it does, that tells the missile that it is off-course, and the guidance system in the missile has to decide how to get back on course. This is where proportional navigation comes in. The missile looks at the angle of off-centeredness and changes its angle of flight proportionally. In other words, it uses a multiplier. If the multiplier is 2, then if the guidance system thinks it is 10 degrees off course, it will change its flight direction by 20 degrees. Then, a tenth of a second later it will look at the angle again, and change again. By over-correcting this way, it lets the missile anticipate the path of the moving plane in the same way that you anticipate the path of a moving object. If you are a quarterback trying to throw a ball to a receiver running across the field, you would not throw the ball toward where the receiver is -- you would throw it toward where he will be when the ball arrives.\n\nObviously, the guidance system is more involved than this. The image sensor is riding on a rotating, gyrating missile at Mach 2, and it is trying to hit a small target that may be flying at Mach 1. It is not a simple problem. But this is the general idea.
8881
i believe they are rockets launched just prior to the explosion. They give us an idea of how fast the explosion is expanding. hope this helped. :)
217113
Looks like a game...  http://www.topshareware.com/Jet-Pack-download-15608.htm
1121689
fire dragon is right, after his capture was announced there were reports of sporadic small arms fire. It was the Iraqi's firing into the air in celebration.
482290
Comanche. Its got laser-guided hellfires and stinger missiles.
80699
They're called contrails, short for condensation trails. When a jet engine is running it heats up the air traveling through it.  On the ground it's not that noticeable.  Up in the atmosphere where jets fly, the temperature is way below freezing. The warm moist air condenses as it exits the jet engines and you can see the water vapor the same way you can see your breath on a cold day.
846847
You have ground troops that patrol the area. Once they find an area with enemy troops that they can not take out themselves they will call in air support. That is what this helicopter is. Air Support. The Ground troop will relay coordinates to the copter, and that is how they know the targets are insurgents. The ground troops are specializeed in relaying coordinates for air support. So the attack are always 99% correct. The helicopter pilot and artilierry men just have to get to the position, and make sure the missiles and air fire are locked on the grid (like GPS positionor)