Identification Friend or Foe
Quick Summary
Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) is a system used in air defense to distinguish friendly aircraft from enemy ones. It works in conjunction with radar and other warning systems to process information about detected aircraft.12
IFF equipment helps to:
* Identify aircraft as friendly or hostile.12
* Correlate information with known flight plans.2
* Reject false returns and electronic countermeasures.2
This allows defense systems to make decisions on whether to engage an aircraft with interceptors or surface-to-air missiles. IFF is a crucial component of complex air defense networks, ensuring that friendly forces are not mistakenly targeted.2
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.
