Metallic-strip radar countermeasure (Window / chaff)
Contramedida radar de tiras metálicas (Window / chaff)
- Date
- 24 de julio de 1943 · confidence high
- Place
- Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- Joan Curran (TRE), with ideas from R. V. Jones and Gerald Touch
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Strips of aluminium foil dropped by bombers that flood enemy radar screens with false echoes. It was first used in the bombing of Hamburg (Operation Gomorrah, 24 July 1943) and paralysed German air defence.
Germany (Düppel) and Japan developed similar methods independently and the British delayed using it for a year for fear of retaliation; Curran's role versus Jones's is debated.
What it led to
- electronic warfare and countermeasures
- missile flares and decoys
- moving-target-indicator radar