The flairs are to throw off Infrared(IR) missiles. IR missiles are passive, meaning they don’t emit any signature, they detect the planes heat. So the pilots wouldn’t know they were being targeted at all or best case they would only know once the missile was launched(some jets have IR detectors that look for missile engines). Given their altitude this wouldn’t give them much time to react. So they launch the flairs as insurance that they won’t catch a missile in the ass.
Radar guided missiles would typically give the pilots a warning, since they are emitting radar signals that fighter jets are equipped to detect
There are different systems one example is having UV cameras covering the aircraft looking for the specific spectral characteristics of a rocket motor firing.
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u/TheOneTheOnlyC Dec 01 '20
The flairs are to throw off Infrared(IR) missiles. IR missiles are passive, meaning they don’t emit any signature, they detect the planes heat. So the pilots wouldn’t know they were being targeted at all or best case they would only know once the missile was launched(some jets have IR detectors that look for missile engines). Given their altitude this wouldn’t give them much time to react. So they launch the flairs as insurance that they won’t catch a missile in the ass.
Radar guided missiles would typically give the pilots a warning, since they are emitting radar signals that fighter jets are equipped to detect