Editing Infrared search and track (section)

==Tactics==
[[File:German MIG-29 Nose.jpg|thumb|left|MiG-29 nose showing radome and S-31E2 KOLS IRST]]

With [[infrared homing]] or [[fire-and-forget]] missiles, the fighter may be able to fire upon the target without having to turn on its radar sets at all. Otherwise, the fighter can turn the radar on and achieve a lock immediately before firing if desired. The fighter could also close to within [[autocannon|cannon]] range and engage that way.

Whether or not they use their radar, the IRST system can still allow them to launch a surprise attack.

An IRST system may also have a regular magnified optical sight slaved to it, to help the IRST-equipped aircraft identify the target at long range. As opposed to an ordinary [[FLIR|forward looking infrared]] system, an IRST system will actually scan the space around the aircraft similarly to the way in which mechanically (or even electronically) steered radars work. The exception to the scanning technique is the F-35's DAS, which stares in all directions simultaneously, and automatically detects and declares aircraft and missiles in all directions, without a limit to the number of targets simultaneously tracked.

When they find one or more potential targets they will alert the pilot(s) and display the location of each target relative to the aircraft on a screen, much like a radar. Again similarly to the way a radar works, the operator can tell the IRST to track a particular target of interest, once it has been identified, or scan in a particular direction if a target is believed to be there (for example, because of an advisory from AWACS or another aircraft).

IRST systems can incorporate [[laser rangefinder]]s in order to provide full [[fire-control system|fire-control]] solutions for cannon fire or launching missiles ([[Optronique secteur frontal|Optronique Secteur Frontal]]). The combination of an atmospheric propagation model, the apparent surface of the target, and target motion analysis (TMA) IRST can calculate the range.