Well, this picture is fairly simple.

It shows the jamming effects of the QRC-160 protection jammer on the basic version of SA-2 system (Dvina) with no ECCM capabilities at various ranges (>=60-12km, <=12 km head-on and passing by, >=12 km receding target).

QRC-160 jammer emits most of its energy at the angle of 15 degrees (depicted is a jammer antenna main lobe of estimated width 12 +- 6 degrees). In order to achieve the greatest jamming effect, the aircraft pilot must keep the jammer pointed at the SA-2 radar.

QRC-160 jams in range: instead of a target blip, you see a vertical "bar" of noise - operator does not know the range, but he can determine angles (azimuth and elevation) by centering on the bar. Usually, a single jammer aircraft is not well protected (SA-2 can shoot in TT mode when no range info is available).

To achieve the necessary level of protection, 4 jammer equipped aircraft fly so called "pod formation": flying close enough together makes the separate bars of noise merge together in to one large bar and be indistinguishable. Adding a vertical spacing between aircrafts also confounds azimuth and angle operators (they are no longer sure they are tracking the same target).

In the rightmost picture, you see the jamming effect when it is the most strongest - every single target is hidden in the thick middle "bar" of noise (the target blip is only shown only for reference, real operator does not see it). Hence the angle information is denied.

The thinner noise bars to the left and to the right of the center is the jamming entering the antenna through the sidelobes. In the middle picture you see what happens when the aircraft closes to 12 km and the SA-2 radar leaves the jammer antenna mainlobe - operators can see the target clearly and they can shoot. However, this opportunity is very brief, as the aircraft will quickly escape inside the min-range of the engagement zone (engement zone charted on the right). Also, it is difficult to acquire and lock a target that passes by with a high radial velocity - you can actually try it on SAMSIM and see how it works).

The left most picture shows the same effect created by the receding jamming aircraft formation after it passed the SA-2 (probably, after completing a successful bombing run on the ground target). The targets again are completely obscured by a thick bar of noise, no shooting possible.

Last edited by Jonas85; 03/09/16 02:35 PM.