11-01-2024, 02:27 PM
ADDED DATA for previous post. Made separately so the thread will be bumped.
The 30N6E1 Tombstone radar is the fire control radar for the S-300 PMU1 system. It provides target tracking, missile guidance, and tatget illumination (for SARH missile, i.e. the most common missiles Iran has). It has a range of 300 kilometers (186.4 miles). It can detect up to 100 targets, track and engage 36 of them, and guide 72 missiles. The S-300 battery can operate with the 30N6E1 in an "autonomous" mode. This seems to be the normal mode used in Ukraine and probably in Iran, where the S-300s guard fairly widely separated points. The predecessor to the 30N6E1 Tombstone was the 30N6E Flap Lid (https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...05.en.html). It could track only 6 targets.
The Russian IADS is designed to incorporate long range early warning radars. The idea was that the early warning radars would cover 360 degrees and detect targets at long range. These targets would then be "handed off" to the "best" missile battery to engage using the battery's own fire control radar. That fire control radar need only minimal target detection capability because it would be given a good hand-off and could begin tracking almost immediately. Thus the Flap Lid could only track six targets. There would be many more fire control radars than early warning radars. This architecture can be traced all the way back to the SA-2 (used extensively by North Vietnam) where the early warning radar was the Spoon Rest and the target tracking radar was the Fan Song. One only needs to substitute the NATO names through each generation (pretty much. There were some "branches").
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/...r-missile/
https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/1...49.en.html
The following link puts it all together for the S-300 https://odin.tradoc.army.mil/WEG/Asset/0...7e4d00b646.
The "older" S-300 systems used the 91N6 Big Bird as a early warning radar. Iran is known to have at least one of these. This radar operates in S band as does Patriot. It utilizes a "back to back" antenna to increase the instantaneous area coverage. It is obviously a "big" radar that is expensive. The literature states the system is operated by four crew members. That could true, but the total crew necessary to support this behemoth is lots more than that. There is a newer system that does basically the same task, the 96L6E Cheese Board. https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...44.en.html Iran probably doesn't have any of these.
As one can easily see from the antennas the technology of the early warning and fire control radars in the Russian SAM systems is converging. The fire control radar has additional hardware to guide the missiles and illuminate the target. The Russian fire control (and early warning radars) are both mechanically rotated and electronically steered in azimuth. They are mostly electronically steered in elevation (with some fixed elevation mechanical options). As a result the fire control radars may not be able to rotate while guiding missiles. This limits their ability to function as early warning assets over 360 degrees of azimuth. The evolution from the S-300 to the S-400 is made clear in this link https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...06.en.html.
The acquisition capability of the 9S35M1 Fire Dome radar used in the BUK-M1 is such that using it has been compared to "searching for a street address while looking through a soda straw". These systems absolutely needed an early warning/acquisition radar to be effective. Russia is now at a place with the S-400 that they can almost eliminate the need for a separate acquisition. Almost, but not quite. If 45 to 60 degree azimuth coverage is acceptable, they can do it. If more is needed, they have a problem. In theory, they also have a command and control issue that several batteries may engage the same target while leaving others uncovered. In Ukraine that hasn't been a problem because there aren't all that many S-300/400 systems in range of the same targets. It isn't obvious that Russia has an IADS concept anymore. Certainly many problems have come to light in Ukraine, and now also Iran.
The Patriot system uses a single AN/MPQ-53, 65, 65A radar system. These radars are improvements with the 65A being ubiquitous in US systems. As https://missilethreat.csis.org/system/patriot/ says
The 30N6E1 Tombstone radar is the fire control radar for the S-300 PMU1 system. It provides target tracking, missile guidance, and tatget illumination (for SARH missile, i.e. the most common missiles Iran has). It has a range of 300 kilometers (186.4 miles). It can detect up to 100 targets, track and engage 36 of them, and guide 72 missiles. The S-300 battery can operate with the 30N6E1 in an "autonomous" mode. This seems to be the normal mode used in Ukraine and probably in Iran, where the S-300s guard fairly widely separated points. The predecessor to the 30N6E1 Tombstone was the 30N6E Flap Lid (https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...05.en.html). It could track only 6 targets.
The Russian IADS is designed to incorporate long range early warning radars. The idea was that the early warning radars would cover 360 degrees and detect targets at long range. These targets would then be "handed off" to the "best" missile battery to engage using the battery's own fire control radar. That fire control radar need only minimal target detection capability because it would be given a good hand-off and could begin tracking almost immediately. Thus the Flap Lid could only track six targets. There would be many more fire control radars than early warning radars. This architecture can be traced all the way back to the SA-2 (used extensively by North Vietnam) where the early warning radar was the Spoon Rest and the target tracking radar was the Fan Song. One only needs to substitute the NATO names through each generation (pretty much. There were some "branches").
https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/...r-missile/
https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/1...49.en.html
The following link puts it all together for the S-300 https://odin.tradoc.army.mil/WEG/Asset/0...7e4d00b646.
The "older" S-300 systems used the 91N6 Big Bird as a early warning radar. Iran is known to have at least one of these. This radar operates in S band as does Patriot. It utilizes a "back to back" antenna to increase the instantaneous area coverage. It is obviously a "big" radar that is expensive. The literature states the system is operated by four crew members. That could true, but the total crew necessary to support this behemoth is lots more than that. There is a newer system that does basically the same task, the 96L6E Cheese Board. https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...44.en.html Iran probably doesn't have any of these.
As one can easily see from the antennas the technology of the early warning and fire control radars in the Russian SAM systems is converging. The fire control radar has additional hardware to guide the missiles and illuminate the target. The Russian fire control (and early warning radars) are both mechanically rotated and electronically steered in azimuth. They are mostly electronically steered in elevation (with some fixed elevation mechanical options). As a result the fire control radars may not be able to rotate while guiding missiles. This limits their ability to function as early warning assets over 360 degrees of azimuth. The evolution from the S-300 to the S-400 is made clear in this link https://www.radartutorial.eu/19.kartei/0...06.en.html.
The acquisition capability of the 9S35M1 Fire Dome radar used in the BUK-M1 is such that using it has been compared to "searching for a street address while looking through a soda straw". These systems absolutely needed an early warning/acquisition radar to be effective. Russia is now at a place with the S-400 that they can almost eliminate the need for a separate acquisition. Almost, but not quite. If 45 to 60 degree azimuth coverage is acceptable, they can do it. If more is needed, they have a problem. In theory, they also have a command and control issue that several batteries may engage the same target while leaving others uncovered. In Ukraine that hasn't been a problem because there aren't all that many S-300/400 systems in range of the same targets. It isn't obvious that Russia has an IADS concept anymore. Certainly many problems have come to light in Ukraine, and now also Iran.
The Patriot system uses a single AN/MPQ-53, 65, 65A radar system. These radars are improvements with the 65A being ubiquitous in US systems. As https://missilethreat.csis.org/system/patriot/ says
Quote:Unlike other air defense systems, the Patriot radar is notable for combining surveillance, tracking, and engagement functions in one unit.This approach yielded a system that had the features the S-400 has evolved towards. However, the US has a newer system, the LTAMDS https://www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/...nse/ltamds
Quote:The Army intends to replace these systems with a new radar, the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System (LTAMDS), in 2022. Unlike the AN/MPQ-53, -65, and -65A, which can scan only a limited sector of airspace, LTAMDS will possess 360-degree coverage and offer significantly further detection range. While the AN/MPQ-53 and -65-series radars are passively-scanned arrays, LTAMDS is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) and features gallium nitride (GaN) power amplifiers, offering higher jamming resistance, beam agility, and power efficiency over previous systems.The first six of these radars were delivered (late) in 2023. More are being built. Its big advantage is instantaneous 360 degree azimuth coverage. This is achieved without any need for mechanical rotation. Of course the AEGIS systems had this capability from the beginning, but they are physically a bit large to be land mobile :-). The "new" SPY-6 radars began deliveries in 2020. RTX (Raytheon) is the contractor for both the SPY-6 and LTAMDS, so maybe the upgrade path will be "smooth".