When the Su-35 entered the Russian Air Forces in 2014, it was equipped with an infrared tracker to deal with 5th-generation airframes.This fighter is on the frontline to lessen the threat of stealth strikes, which is still a lethal threat.
Heavy Weight Fighter Equipped with Sensors
Equipped as sensors is the Irbis-E Radar, claimed to be capable of tracking stealth craft at 90 kilometers away, with AESA radars installed in the wing roots that work on the X band, which is a stealth buster, reported Military Watch Magazine.
One of the key sensors in the layers of detection systems is the OLS-35 infra-red search and tracking system (IRST). Long before the F-117 and later the F-22 and F-35, the old Soviet Union installed IRSTs on all main fighters in the 1980s.
Installed on the MiG-29 and Su-27, which were 4th generation fighters, with this capability. The current Su-35 and improved Su-27 derived fighters have made improved changes to newer IRST modules.
IRST System on Russian Fighters
When first used on the Su-27, the OLS-27 IRST tracked 50 kilometers from the back of the plane, but the OLS-35 adds up to a 90-kilometer detection range.
The Irbis-E radar can detect up to 400 kilometers away with 3-meter targets that exceed the Su-27 N001 radar's 80-kilometer detection range, states Military History.
Infrared search and tracking devices offer fighters like the Su-35 a range of advantages, such as keeping tactical awareness without employing any radar systems and operating with negligible radar signature.
IRSTs are also less susceptible to electromagnetic interference than radar systems and are particularly adapted to locating stealth targets that, while possibly reducing heat signatures, could reduce these less drastically than radar signatures.
The Su-35's prior assimilation of this feature for a similar role, the adoption of the IRST onto some updated versions of the US Navy's F-18E/F Super Hornet fourth-generation fighters, has been correspondingly put forward as a measure to enable it to handle enemy stealth airframe better conveniently.
It is capable of tracking up to four different targets at the same time when detected by the sensor. The OLS-35 IRST (optical locating station) is a laser that ranges its targets, which can be used to track air and surface targets. It even doubles as a laser painter to guide laser armament.
The IRST has been used several times in theatres of combat when the US only used fifth-generation fighters, which is the F-22 raptor that saw action over Syria. Su-35 has been built to counter the threat it faced.
Footages of the heavy Flankers with their enhanced infrared sensor have locked onto the F-22 during operations.
US Air Force General VeraLinn Jamieson mentioned that operations next to F-22s in the theatre supplied Russia with a bounty of data on how American air units functioned.
Due to the impact of stealth on modern aircraft, the IRST will be integrated as standard equipment on all Russian fighter units; even now, the Su-57 Felon has it equipped with six AESA radars on its airframe, per Air Force Technology.
The Sukhoi Su-35 and the current version of the infrared tracker or OLS-35 are equipped with an optical locating station, which can detect stealth aircraft flying today.
Related Article: Russia's Su-57 Felon Stealth Fighter Is Perfect for the Ukraine War Than the Su-34, Su-35
