This could pose a problem.

[p01ic3m4n]

Two members of the Lothian and Borders (Scotland) traffic police were
out on the Berwickshire moors with a radar gun recently, happily engaged
in apprehending speeding motorists, when their equipment suddenly
locked-up completely with an unexpected reading of well over 300 MPH.

The mystery was explained seconds later as a low-flying Harrier hurtled
over their heads.

The boys in blue, upset at the damage to their radar gun, put in a
complaint to the RAF, but were somewhat chastened when the RAF pointed
out that the damage might well have been more severe.

The Harrier's target-seeker had locked on to the 'enemy' radar and
triggered an automatic retaliatory air-to-surface missle attack.
Luckily(?), the Harrier was operating unarmed.


it happened in 1998.

[Deputy Joe]

Did they get a new radar from the RAF???

[SGT Dave]

I used to clock incoming planes at a local airport.

I never could get them in the air, but after touchdown, I've seen as high as 141 on small Learjets!

Now THAT's a Doppler tone you don't hear everyday!

[Deputy757]

Just goes to show you that the old saying from An American Werewolf in London is right!!!

"STAY OFF THE MOOOORS"!!!!

[Frank Booth]

Sounds like an urban legend to me....

[Sig220Man]

I'm not one to agree with Frank, but I think he's right.

I heard a version of this story back in 1996 (two years before this incident supposedly occurred), when I attended Radar Certification School. The version I heard involved a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy assigned somewhere out in the Antelope Valley (nearby are Air Force Plant 42, Edwards AFB, and China Lake NAS) who decided to clock an overhead Stealth Bomber.

The rest of the story is similar.

[p01ic3m4n]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Frank Booth:
Sounds like an urban legend to me....

---

it's not. it was originally featured in an article of PILOT magazine then a few others picked it up. i believe it was also in motor trend, which is the issue i read it from.

[Sig220Man]

Once again, Snopes has come to the rescue, and has verified what Frank and I suspected: It's another Urban Myth:

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/radar.htm

Thanks Nite for letting us now about this site!

[Frank Booth]

If it really happened, why did the radar unit get damaged? Did the Harrier have some kind of "radar fryer"? You can clock items at very fast speeds all the time without hurting it (ie. the fan blades on your car's heating and cooling system.) Secondly, there are tons of radar sources in use all over the place, 24/7, and you don't hear of them being blasted by HARM missles. Why don't we try to come up with a good police urban legend and see how far it will go? I like the one with the burglar, the toothbrushes and the camera. I'd like to come up with something like that...

[Frank Booth]

[ 04-04-2003, 09:01 PM: Message edited by: Frank Booth ]

[RachelR]

Frank, lol. My brother was just telling me ALL about that rollercoaster last night.. hehe

[Bob A]

This specific story is certainly all UL, but I know from talking to several USMC Cobra pilots, and a family friend who is a former PD helo pilot and retired USA WO helo pilot, that the military does "lock on" to ground "targets" such as soccer moms in SUVs or trucks and even ships.

I've never heard of an actual launch against one, or that LE radar would be ID'd as a source of threat (Microwave ovens have much more powerful magnetrons than LE radar) I've always wondered what they do to prevent this from happening.

The idea makes me a little uncomfortable.

[p01ic3m4n]

you mean i was betrayed by motor trend??? this cannot be.

[huff317]

I also have heard of the radar units being fried.
Haven't seen it yet, and to put it mildly, I have had the opportunity to measure some pretty fast movers at the EOR on several AFB's nationwide.

The tone IS cool, though.

Out

[JKT]

A buddy of mine was in the Navy, on a small carrier back in the 70's, and at one of their stateside port, the local LE like to clock them coming off base, and write them for as little as 5 over.

So, the ECM guys got the bright idea that they would solve that little problem.

After they pulled into port one time, the ECM folks trained a jamming radar in the direction of the highway, and waited until they detected a radar emitter.

Then, they turned on the jammer for a few seconds.

It is reported that the LEO's radar started smoking, and he had a heck of a time expalining to his chief what had happened.