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Mr. Luddite

On 4/20/2014 9:00 PM, wrote:
On Sun, 20 Apr 2014 17:33:52 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Another misconception is the belief that ship based radar or any other
electromagnetic radiation is even required to acquire, designate and
guide a missile or other weapon to a target. It used to be so but not
anymore.

I understand passive missile FC systems but how do you find the target
in the first place without something active? (if they are dark)

It's not "a" system. It's a combination of combat system capabilities
and choice of weapons. A ship can still illuminate a target by radar
without providing a return guidance path that is useful. There are
several "fire and forget" missile variants that once fired acquire and
lock onto the target using it's own radar or laser target designation.
They are capable of "over the horizon" seek and destroy. When operating
with a task force there is typically a Hawkeye E-2 (carrier based) in
the air which is basically a smaller version of an AWACS flying Combat
Command and Control station that interfaces all the combat systems of
the task group, including the ship's AEGIS system.