AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar

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

Specifications

Artillery: 18 km
Rockets: 24 km

Features

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:

See also

References

  1. U. S. Army Depot Command, Sacramento Army Depot (8 January 1991). "FIREFINDER AN/TPQ-6 (V) 7 BLOCK IIB". Preliminary Design Review: SYSTEM INTEGRATION.

External links

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