How Russia or China could use counter-stealth IRST to shoot down America’s stealth fighters

Once either China or Russia manages to put together a long-wave infrared search and track (IRST), high-speed data links, and the computers and algorithms for multi-ship sensor fusion, the ability of U.S. fifth-generation fighters to operate independently will diminish. With Boeing and the U.S. Navy explaining in detail how a combination of longwave IRST combined with high-speed multi-ship data networking and advanced sensor fusion algorithms can generate a weapons quality track on enemy stealth fighters, it is only a matter of time before adversaries such as Russia and China develop similar capabilities. The Navy will be fielding its new counter-stealth capabilities in the coming years as the Block III Super Hornet enters service in 2022. Given that the Russians and the Chinese possess the individual elements of all the required technologies to replicate the U.S. Navy’s capabilities, it is only a matter of time before Moscow and Beijing start to field similar counter-stealth abilities.