The motoring speed trap

[Theis]

Two members of the traffic police were out in the countryside 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 400 mph.

The mystery was explained seconds later as a low flying Tornado 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 Tornado's target-seeker had locked on to the 'enemy' radar and triggered an automatic retaliatory air-to-surface missile attack.

Luckily(?), the Tornado was operating unarmed.

[Jared]

[H]

Oops, how many motorists are now ready to refit with a radar defense system?

8)

[Saitek]

Lol - is that real?  ???

[Viper22]

I have heard this story several different times, many in different versions.  I think they even tested this on Tv once to see if it was even possible, but I cant seem to remember...

[4_Series_Scania]

Utter pap I'm afraid!

[quote]Origins:   This report has been circulating around the Internet for several years at least. The first sighting I can recall was from around 1995, but it may have appeared somewhat earlier.

The story is almost certainly false for a number of highly technical reasons. First off, police radar is relatively weak

[Katahu]

It doesn't matter what the heck the real report says. The story is funny anways and worth posting.

[H]

Like, how many of these entries in the humor forum are factual or even expected to be.
That report can be slightly misleading, however. Without mentioning which frequency bands, even the old standard TWS SAM radar had a greater range than this states (they've indicated the limits of effective missile launch). The basic beam emission was @ two inches at start and, ideal conditions depending, some acft could have detected it well over 200 miles away. Secondly, if you turned on your jammer when I didn't know you were there, I certainly know now and I'm going to point right at your jamming strobe (there is also a button for TOJ -- Track On Jam); I just don't know exactly how far away you are unless, as you get within the distance mentioned, my return signal begins to break through yours. The hope for the acft is that the missile(s) will not only miss direct physical contact but also explode a (somewhat) safe distance away (shrapnel can be quite deadly, as well).

:o