ABSTRACT
The advent of imaging seekers in the 8-12 μm bands poses a new challenge in the
area of infrared countermeasures. Area-extensive infrared countermeasures will be
necessary to defeat these new seekers. One effective component of these
countermeasures will be infrared airborne obscurants, particles, essentially removing
the original target from the imager's field.
The experimental studies concern with investigating the thermal screening potentials
of some mineral dust, which are commercially available and unhazardous.
The smoke was generated pneumatically within a designed smoke tunnel equipped
with means for measuring the surrounding meteorological parameters such as the
ambient temperature, and relative humidity. The thermal obscuring potential of the
smoke cloud was thermally tested by using a thermal camera attached to a video
recorder and a data processing system. The effect of the smoke cloud on the
attenuation of the infrared radiation emitted from a selected target was recorded,
analyzed and explained.
The experimental results indicates the capability of experimentally studying the
potential of various mineral dust as infrared obscurants