chaff
n. uncountablen. a type of metal foil used by planes and ships to trick radar and missiles. It looks like paper but is made of thin metal strips that fly through the air.
n. metallic strips or foil used as a countermeasure to confuse radar systems and infrared-guided missiles. Often deployed in large quantities to create a cloud of false targets.
The pilot released chaff to hide the plane from the radar.
During the air raid, the fighter jets dropped chaff to create a dense cloud that masked their true location from the enemy.
Modern electronic warfare systems often combine chaff with flares to provide a layered defense against sophisticated tracking mechanisms that can distinguish between heat signatures and radar reflections.
From Middle English chaf, from Old English ċeaf, from Proto-West Germanic *kaf. Cognate with Scots caff, Saterland Frisian Sääf, West Frisian tsjêf, Dutch kaf, German Low German Kaff, regional German Kaff.