Project 1 — B-21 Threat Detection Range Analysis#
Background#
The B-21 Raider is an all-aspect, broadband low-observable bomber designed for long-range penetrating strike inside heavily defended airspace. Before any route is planned, mission planners need one fundamental product: the range at which each threat radar class first detects the aircraft, as a function of aspect angle and operating band. Detection range is not a single number — the B-21’s RCS varies with the aspect the threat sees and with the threat’s operating frequency, and the radar range equation turns every dB of RCS into kilometers through the fourth-root law. Broadband LO suppresses RCS everywhere, but not equally: suppression is most effective at high frequency and least effective in the low bands where early warning radars live. Different layers of an IADS therefore see the B-21 at very different ranges, and those differences drive where the ingress corridors are. Your group is the survivability analysis cell supporting B-21 mission planning — your product feeds directly into the route-planning work this course returns to in Block 4.
Materials#
Project 1 handout (PDF) — the authoritative tasking, deliverables, and rubric
B21_RCS_Table.csv — notional RCS vs aspect in UHF, S, and X bands
The MATLAB starter skeleton, code/L9_Project1Starter.m, is bundled in the course code download with the CSV beside it — it loads the table, defines the three threat classes, and verifies one worked \(R_{\max}\) so your group starts at the physics, not the plumbing.
Schedule#
L9 is a dedicated in-class work day — see L9 — Project 1 Work Day.
L10: slides (PDF) and code due before class; 10-minute presentation + 5 minutes Q&A, every member speaking — see L10 — Project 1 Presentations.