AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar

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Not to be confused with AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar, BEL Weapon Locating Radar, Type 704 Radar, or AN/TPQ-53 Quick Reaction Capability Radar.

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AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder Radar

Hughes AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder Weapon Locating System is a mobile radar system developed by Hughes Aircraft Company and manufactured by Northrop Grumman and ThalesRaytheonSystems. The system is a "weapon-locating radar", designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counterbattery fire. It is currently in service at battalion and higher levels in the United States Army, United States Marine Corps and Australian Army. Also Turkish Army and Portugal are among the users.

The radar is typically trailer mounted and towed by a Humvee.

Upgrades

Firefinder (V)7 adds a Modular Azimuth Position System (MAPS). MAPS has a North Seeking Laser Gyrocompass and a microprocessor controlled Honeywell H-726 Inertial Navigation System. Prior Firefinders used a survey team to find site latitude, longitude, and direction to North. With MAPS, reaction time was limited only by site set-up, since system geo-position was pre-loaded before sortie deployment. Crew was reduced from 8 to 6.[1]

Firefinder (V)8 extends system performance, improves operator survivability and lowers life cycle cost. Greater processing power and the addition of a low noise amplifier to the radar antenna improves detection range (by up to 50%) and performance accuracy against certain threats.

Operations/Maintainers

The AN/TPQ-36 is an electronically steered radar, meaning the radar antenna does not actually move while in operation. The radar antenna may however be moved manually if required. The system may also be operated in a friendly fire mode to determine the accuracy of counterbattery return fire, or for conducting radar registration or mean point of impact calibrations for friendly artillery. Capabilities

  • Locates mortars, artillery, and rocket launchers
  • Locates 10 weapons simultaneously
  • Locates targets on first round
  • Performs high-burst, datum-plane, and impact registrations
  • Adjusts friendly fire
  • Interfaces with tactical fire
  • Predicts impact of hostile projectiles

Specifications

  • Maximum range: 24 km
  • Effective range

Artillery: 18 km
Rockets: 24 km

  • Azimuth sector: 90°
  • Frequency: S-band, 32 frequencies
  • Prime power: 115/200 VAC, 400 Hz, 3-phase, 8 kW
  • Peak transmitted power: 23 kW, min.

Features

  • Permanent storage for 99 targets
  • Field exercise mode
  • Digital data interface

Manufacturers

Northrop Grumman manufactures the AN/TPQ-36(V)8 Firefinder radar. Before acquisition by Raytheon, the Hughes Aircraft Co. developed the AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar at its Fullerton, California facility, and manufactures it at its Forest, Mississippi plant.

Nomenclature

Per the Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), the nomenclature AN/TPQ-36 is thus derived:

  • "AN/" indicating Army/Navy(Marines)--a system nomenclature derived from the JETDS.
  • "T" for 'transportable', indicating it is carried by a vehicle but is not an integral part of said vehicle (compare with 'V' for vehicle-mounted).
  • "P" indicating a position finder (RADAR).
  • "Q" for a special-purpose(multipurpose) radar, in this case counterbattery.
  • "36" is the 36'th version of this family, of TPQ radars.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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