Jindalee Radar System

Battles of science and technology

The United States of America spent $11 billion developing stealth aircraft that could not be detected by radar. Scientists at the CSIRO concluded that if the plane could not be detected, perhaps the turbulence it makes passing through air could be. $1.5 million later, their breakthrough process Jindalee Radar system had transformed the stealth bomber into nothing more than an unusual looking aircraft.

The system allows the Australian Defence Force to observe all air and sea activity north of Australia to distances of 3000km. This encompasses all of Java, Irian Jaya, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and halfway across the Indian Ocean. Some sources put the range at 4000km from the Australian coastline or even as far as Taiwan, China and North Korea.

Jindalee over-the-horizon radar was used to track military aircraft landing and taking off from Dili Airport, in East Timor, on 20 September 1999, when Australia-led Interfet forces began securing the former Indonesian province from militia violence. The new radar has also been used to track illegal immigrants approaching Australia by boat through the region's largely unguarded northern waters.


To check out further details click: http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/attachments/The_development_of_over-the-horizon_radar.pdf