MORTAR-FINDER BACKFIRES

[yasin_khan]

An Army radar designed to spot enemy mortar attacks isn't working as advertised in Iraq.

"For members of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, the 20-year-old AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder Weapon Locating System was more of a problem than an asset, Defense News reports. "The unit came under mortar fire 40 times in Iraq, but the system only detected rounds three times. The squadron suffered between 10 and 15 injuries from mortars."


“We stopped, we moved the radar around, the technical guys around worked the [software] programming,†said Lt. Col. Gregory Reilly, squadron leader. “We tried everything humanly possible.â€

The unit even fired its own mortars at the system in an attempt to work out the bugs. Even under the best circumstances, the radar detected only one out of five rounds.

“I just don’t think there was fidelity in the system,†Reilly said. “I don’t think that it worked.â€

Thales Raytheon System’s Q-37 Firefinder radar, which can be transported on a 2.5-ton truck, was first fielded in the 1980s to detect rounds from long-range Soviet artillery up to 50 kilometers away...

Army program officials, who say they track the performance of the upgraded Q-37 daily, rate its effectiveness at roughly 90 percent — when it is used correctly by troops who have been trained extensively.

The radars are “performing exceptionally well for a system originally designed and developed 20 years ago for a different type of warfare,†Lt. Col. Al Visconti, Firefinder product manager, wrote in a response to questions.



http://64.207.156.228/

 

[Aussie Digger]

The Australian Army also uses the Firefinder, and has a program to upgrade it's capabilities. I haven't got any other details, but I've never heard of any real complaints before. I guess it's still better to detect 1 in 5 than none out of 5 mortar rounds...

 

[fairwind2004]

Hi, I am new to this forum. The topic struck me and after reading i want to add the following. There is the TPQ-37 longrange detection system and the TPQ-36 shortrange detection system. As a mortar is a shortrange support weapon could it be possible that the TPQ-37 does give less performance at short ranges. It might be that the TPQ-36 could give better results. As i live in the Netherlands the RNLA has the TPQ-36 system. They used it in the Balkans with good results. Especially during the deployement on mount Igman near Sarajewo.

 

[gf0012-aust]

Hi, I am new to this forum. The topic struck me and after reading i want to add the following. There is the TPQ-37 longrange detection system and the TPQ-36 shortrange detection system. As a mortar is a shortrange support weapon could it be possible that the TPQ-37 does give less performance at short ranges. It might be that the TPQ-36 could give better results. As i live in the Netherlands the RNLA has the TPQ-36 system. They used it in the Balkans with good results. Especially during the deployement on mount Igman near Sarajewo.

Without having access to the reports, I am guessing that it was a human error problem either in training and/or programming issues.

I've dealt with both a French (Metravib) and an Australian (PNV) solution and both have been flawless. The French were quite accurate in taking out Serbian insurgency squads in Bosnia.

The French (and Australian system which is similar) have greater than 95% intercept rates.