How do warplanes know that there is a missile lock on them?

Question

Ive seen this in many movies and documentaries but never knew how it works. When there is an air to air or surface to air missile locked on the plane, the pilot knows it. is there a infrared or beam signature or something?

Answer 1

aircraft are equipped with Radar Warning Receivers (RWR) which can pick up any EM coming from missiles (radar and/or heat seeking). If they are locked up then they will hear a tone on their headsets.

Answer 2

Radar!

Answer 3

usually when they ask st peter what happened...

Answer 4

How do you know when the police officer has a fix on you for speeding?... well... it works the same way on airplanes.

Answer 5

The aircraft has receivers that detect incoming radar signals. If a certain signal stays on the plane for long enough it sets off an alarm to warn the pilot. Infrared, or heat seeking, missiles do not use an active scan system, so there's no warning. That's why planes flying over hostile territory fire flares at regular intervals, to distract any missile that may have already been fired.

Answer 6

There is equipment that is monitoring what signals are hitting the aircraft, so it can identify the type of signals hitting the aircraft sensors, each type of transmitting system has its own specific characteristics, so if its a missile type system it lights warning lights up.