Aiming at the detection and tracking of IR point targets in complicated sea-sky background, an algorithm for detecting and tracking targets based on the Triple Pipeline was studied. Making use of the first and the second pipelines, this algorithm could achieve effective filtering through quadratic correlation of binary IR images. The triple pipeline based on “OR” operation was used to search targets and mark their positions .The method discussed in the paper can detect and track targets reliably. In the practice of engineering, we used real IR images that were screened by opto-electronic tracker to validate the reliability of the algorithm. Experiment shows that practical results are accordance with emulational results, and the algorithm is feasible.