SAF gets new battlefield radar
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SAF gets new battlefield radars
By David Boey
THE Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has acquired battlefield radars called Arthur to help it detect enemy artillery shells, mortar bombs and rockets.
The radar, mounted on a BV-206 vehicle, can detect shells 40km away, says Capt Soh (above). -- DAVID BOEY
The Swedish-made radar's name stands for ARTillery HUnting Radar.
The new radars - about the size of a ping pong table - were put into operation early last year. One radar will go on show for the first time at this weekend's Army Open House at the Safti Military Institute in Jurong.
Arthur is mounted on top of a BV-206 all-terrain tracked vehicle for greater mobility. It joins existing weapon locating radars like the United States-made Firefinders and thus reinforces the combat capability of the 24th Battalion Singapore Artillery (24 SA) in finding targets for the Army's big guns.
The new radars can also tell SAF gunners if their shells are on target and advise them to adjust their firing, if necessary.
Weapons engineers at the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) have made improvements to the radar system, like adding air-conditioning to the operator's cabin under the radar.
Apart from creature comforts, DSTA division manager Teo Chee Wah said efforts were made 'to integrate the Arthur system into the SAF's sensor-to-shooter network' so that gunners can find, fix and finish targets rapidly.
Captain Patrick Soh, a radar commander with 24 SA, said yesterday that Arthur can go into action with a crew of 11 gunners in five minutes.
In comparison, it takes 18 gunners some 30 minutes to set up the unit's older Firefinder radars. What is more, three separate vehicles support each Firefinder radar, which is towed behind a truck.
Also, the Arthur can detect shells or rockets some 40km away - the distance from Changi to Tuas.
Arthur will force any enemy mobile artillery system that uses 'shoot-and-scoot' tactics, to 'redeploy constantly so that they become ineffective', added Capt Soh.
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is this purchase meant to counter the MAF's ASTROS systems?
comments? -
pics pics!
i saw it on ST, looks cool.. -
I am wondering if they are referring to the newer and better ATTC instead of the BV206. Yes, pics will be nice.
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Ok, its confirmed to be the BV206 because i have just seen the picture in another forum. But i still think the ATTC will be a better platform. Can anyone give any reasons why BV206 is more suitable?
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This radar is made by Sweden and BV206 was from Sweden too.Originally posted by tankee1981:Ok, its confirmed to be the BV206 because i have just seen the picture in another forum. But i still think the ATTC will be a better platform. Can anyone give any reasons why BV206 is more suitable?
With the help of Sweden engineers to integrate . -
I had a friend with ST auto, they had a long fight with Hägglunds about how close the ATTC was to the BV206 design. As expected Hägglunds lost becuase of the attachment arm differed in design (ours is a chinese copy).Originally posted by tankee1981:Ok, its confirmed to be the BV206 because i have just seen the picture in another forum. But i still think the ATTC will be a better platform. Can anyone give any reasons why BV206 is more suitable?
Difference? not much except ATTC is localized, sometimes good, sometimes less than useful.
Another radar system (details of which i will self censor) was 'localized'.
"No need that feature lah" our local chaps said.
Now, everytime we shut down this particular system, some poor fool has to climb up nearly 15m to 'adjust by hand' the dish so that the radar does not leak signals when it is re-started.
Thats maybe why we have to buy the new radar as a system and not buy "IKEA style" and self assemble. -
This new radar certian looks a lot smaller compared to the present TPQs i think.... saw at the Army Open house preview today........ they seemed to be using the 206s as "Taxis" for the Open house to ferry visitors around
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Lemme guess, Eriksson?
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From operators feedback,
The BV is made of fibreglass, alot of our vehicles was damaged in our closed terrain. So ST was ask to make an all metal one.
Why is the radar on it? Well, I guess the manufactures are friends. -
Lets all be clear most we see at Army open house etc are ATC, as far as I press eject too fast .. pls ignore
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Lets all be clear most we see at Army open house etc are ATC, as far as I recall we bought only a few BV206 and 'copied produce rest as ATC. Only new Arthur (arh-thur as in "pig" or "stoopid" in hokkien) is strapped on the BV206, difference is not very apparent, anyone care to enlighten rest of us??
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Eh....not really new izzit.....^^"
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Here's some more information. The ARTHUR was displayed at the Army Open House. It did not seem to be involved in the mobile display, free rides etc. It is mounted on the BV 206 platform.
The diffrences from a normal BV 206 is the green body paint instead of the greyish-brownish colour of the logistics BV 206 I have seen. There is a power generator mounted above the engine in the front cabin. The radar panel is on the roof of the rear cabin. The interior of the rear cabin is air-conditioned and has two monitors, keyboards and cushioned seats.
The vehicle is fairly new, only been in use since early 2003 in 24 SA (Singapore Artillery). It had been involved in various parades but this is the first time the vehicle has been made public.