MISSILE AND GUN FIRE CONTROL RADAR

c r o s s s e c t i o n a n d a p o t e n t i a l j a m m i n g environment. · LOW-E (Low Elevation)—Gives priority to the lower beam groups and transmits them as a Doppler wave. The radar can also transmit as a single steerable beam group or it can burn through jamming using a chirp pulse. Radar video, converted to a digital format, is displayed on consoles to allow operators to perform manual radar search, detection and tracking functions. True bearing indications appear when the track position is displayed in relation to true north, rather than to ownship. Variation in frequency tends to make this radar more resistant to jamming than if it were operated at a fixed frequency. This provides a solution to the blind speed problem (“blind speed” is the speed a target travels that is too fast for the radar to track it) in s y s t e m s . F r e q u e n cy s c a n n i n g i m p o s e s s o m e limitations because a large portion of the available frequency band is used for scanning rather than to increase the resolution of targets. It also requires that the receiver bandwidth be extremely wide or that the receiver be capable of shifting the bandwidth center with the transmitted frequency. The radar provides accurate height data by factoring in the effects of pitch and roll of the ship and changing the transmitted frequency accordingly. The ship’s gyro system provides the radar set with this pitch and roll data. The AN/SPS-48 radar works with other onboard radar sensors through the SYS-1/SYS-2, as did the AN/SPS-52C. Search data from the AN/SPS-48 radar is sent to multiple weapon systems. These include the Mk 91 Fire Control System for the SEASPARROW missile system, the Mk 95 radar, the Mk 23 Target Acquisition System, the Close-In Weapon System, and the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) System. The AN/SPS-48 search radar is found onboard NIMITZ (CVN-68) (figure 2-3), KITTY HAWK (CV-63), and ENTERPRISE (CVN-65) class carriers, BLUE RIDGE (LCC) class amphibious command ships, and WASP (LHD) and TARAWA (LHA) class amphibious assault ships. Q1. What operational characteristic makes the AN/SPS-48 series radar resistant to jamming? MISSILE AND GUN FIRE CONTROL RADAR Although you may be involved in the operation of search radar, the majority of your work will be with radar systems used to control the direction and fire of gun and missile systems. These radar systems are normally part of a larger system. They are called Gun Fire Control Systems (GFCS) or Missile Fire Control Systems (MFCS). Some systems may be able to control the fire of either guns or missiles. These are 2-3 Figure 2-2.—SPS-48 series radar on USS Boxer, a WASP class amphibious assault ship.