This article was taken from the May 2012 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
BAE Systems doesn't want its £60 million Eurofighter Typhoon shot down. So each aircraft is fitted with a Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS), which is assessed in this controlled environment. The walls of BAE's Electronic Warfare Test Facility in Warton, Lancashire, are lined with 20,000 carbon-coated cones, making it impregnable to electromagnetic interference. "Any signal we make there, stays there," says Stuart Richmond, a senior engineer.
Richmond's team bombard the aircraft with up to 65,536 electromagnetic signals, from radio to laser, and evaluate how the DASS reacts to them. "We measure how long it takes to detect the signals, work out what they are, tell the pilot and generate a countermeasure," he says. And by emitting its own radio frequencies, the Typhoon can distort the enemy's information -- it can appear to fly at different altitudes or directions, and redirect incoming missiles. Let's hope its Satnav still works.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
