EW Academy · Contents · Chapter 8 · §8.1 · Nederlandse versie

§8.1 The fire control sequence

Open §8.1 in the academy

In plain terms

From discovery to hit is a chain: see, follow, fire, steer. Just like a goalkeeper who sees the ball, follows it and only then dives. If one link fails, the whole shot fails.

In practice

In a SAM battery the search radar detects an aircraft at long range and hands it over to the fire-control radar, which holds on to it, after which the launcher fires and the missile is guided to the end. The pilot hears that chain progressing on his RWR (search → lock → launch), and an attacker tries to break the weakest link (Breaking the defender's kill chain).

All the sensor technology of the previous chapters comes together in one process chain: the Fire Control Sequence — the steps by which a weapon system gets from "there might be something" to "target destroyed". In its general form:

Detection Identification Acquisition Tracking Engagement + kill
The fire control sequence: each step demands more precise information — and therefore different sensors.
  1. Detection: something is there. An early warning or surveillance radar sees an echo above the threshold (Threshold, Constant False Alarm Rate and Automatic Gain Control) at long range. Position: coarse.
  2. Identification: what is it, and is it friend or foe? Means: IFF interrogation, ESM (which radar does it carry?), behaviour (route, altitude, speed), EO/IR verification, procedural control (flight plans).
  3. Target acquisition: the weapon system is handed the target (cueing) and its own, more precise sensor "captures" the target in its beam.
  4. Tracking: a target tracking radar (or IR/EO tracker) follows the target continuously and precisely: position, velocity, predicted path — the fire control solution.
  5. Engagement: the weapon is employed and (for guided weapons) brought to the target — Missile Guidance.
  6. Kill assessment: has the target actually been destroyed? If not: engage again.

Notice the pattern: each step demands more precision about fewer targets. That is why the chain is also a sensor chain: long-range, low-frequency radars at the front, high-frequency trackers with narrow beams at the back (Frequency bands). For the EW specialist this is the framework: each step in the chain has its own emissions — and therefore its own warnings and points of attack. Whoever breaks the chain at one link (preventing detection, delaying identification, breaking the track) breaks the entire engagement.