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With the threat we face today from mortars and small-caliber rockets throughout southwest and central Asia as well as Africa and the Philippines, we continuously must reassess our force protection posture to minimize risks to our Soldiers, airmen and Marines, wherever possible. The Firefinder countermortar and counterbattery radars are our critical in-house systems to facilitate this effort, but in the event of amphibious operations, there is another, more advanced capability we should consider during our fire support planning process: the AN/SPY-1D(V) radar. This radar is part of the Aegis weapon system on cruisers and destroyers.
The Radar. The SPY-1D is multi-functional, although it was primarily designed for a littoral environment to address the threat of cruise-type missiles. It is the primary air and surface radar for the Ticonderoga and Arleigh Burke classes of warships.
When getting a Q-36 Firefinder ashore early is not tactically or logistically feasible, the SPY-1D can serve as a more than adequate surrogate. Furthermore, the "V" or variant version of the SPY-1D can pick out targets from amongst land clutter-there are no mask angle issues with the SPY-1D(V). The V-version underwent successful tests in the summer of 2003 and will be fielded aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney in the summer of 2004.
Configured as four octagonal metal plates bolted to the ship's superstructure, the antenna contains a phased-array system, providing 6400-mil horizontal coverage and azimuth-to-wave-top vertical coverage. It can search for and auto detect targets and transition to track surface and air targets as well as support missile engagement.
While the SPY-1D has been designed primarily to detect theater ballistic missiles (TBMs) at ranges in excess of 500 kilometers, it also can track golf ball-sized targets at ranges in excess of 165 kilometers. It has the ability to track...