A design analysis is given for a bolometric infrared detector that uses the resistive transition of a high‐temperature superconductor as the temperature sensing element, and liquid nitrogen (LN) as the coolant. It is shown that for highly orientedc‐axis films, the measured low‐frequency noise causes little or no degradation of the performance. With the incoming radiation chopped at 10 Hz, noise equivalent powers (NEP) in the range (1–20)×10−12W Hz−1/2should be achievable. These values compare favorably with the NEP of other detectors operating at or above LN temperatures for wavelengths greater than 20 &mgr;m.