The
Ground Master 400 is a mobile radar system proposed by ThalesRaytheonSystems
(TRS) and developed by Thales. ThalesRaytheonSystems, the joint venture
between Thales and Raytheon, offers radar sensors for homeland defense,
tactical air defense, counter-battery and weapon system coordination
markets. With the technological strengths of Thales and Raytheon, TRS
is positioned to offer customizable solutions matched with a coordinated
support for all customers throughout the world. The Ground Master 400
(GM400) is a 3-D long-range Air Defense radar, offering detection from
very high to very low altitudes. It tracks a wide range of targets from
highly maneuverable tactical aircraft flying below several hundred feet
to the unconventional small radar cross-section device as Unmanned Air
Vehicles or cruise missiles, ensuring an excellent global air picture.
The radars are currently in production at Thales’s Limours site
in France Since the product launch in 2008, the GM 400 radar has already
been purchased by customers including Slovenia, Malaysia, France, Finland,
Estonia, Germany, Canada.
Furthermore, the GM 400 has been selected to protect the European Space
Agency's Guiana Space Centre.
Variants
The GM400
family includes the GM403 and the GM406. The GM406 has a transmitter
which is twice as powerful as the GM403, giving it a 20 percent greater
range. The GM406 is primarily designed to equip fixed sites, with the
GM403 designed to be deployable.
The GM400 in transport
configuration has the dimensions and handling equivalent to
a 20 foot shipping container, and weighs less than ten tons.
The Ground Master (GM) family architecture is based on common
building blocks and interfaces, a Stacked Beam Concept and
Digital Beam Forming, providing complete range and altitude
coverage. For ease of maintenance, the GM radars can be remotely
monitored using a standard protocol underpinned by cyber solutions.
GM 400 includes an Electronic Counter Measures feature to
cope with the most severe electronic warfare environment including
decoy device capabilities, while the S-band represents the
better choice considering EW (wider bandwidth) and civilian
application interference constraints. The Ground Master 400
radar is the first product to combine three revolutionary
concepts: ‘digital radar’, ‘e-radar’
and ‘green radar’.
Missions
The
GM 400 is a 3D long-range radar, offering detection from very
high to very low altitudes. It tracks a wide range of targets
from highly maneuverable low-flying tactical aircraft to unconventional
smaller targets such as UAVs, ensuring an excellent wide-area
air picture. The GM 400 can be set up in one hour. When deployed
on site, the GM 400 radar can be connected to operate as part
of a networked air defense organization and can be controlled
from a remote location. The GM 400 can also be associated with
different secondary radars that provide air traffic control
capabilities, and that can also integrate Tactical Ballistic
Missiles detection and tracking capabilities.
Mobility
The
Ground Master 400 radar container can be mounted on a 6x6 or
8x8 tactical truck or trailer. It can be transported by a single
C-130 military transport aircraft or a helicopter.
Main
Features
The
Ground Master GM 400 is a fully digital solid state S-band mobile
3-D long-range air defense radar with high operational availability
and highly simplified maintenance. The whole system is adaptable
to towers and platforms with radome option. The Ground master
400 radar is capable of detecting targets at low, medium and
high altitudes with an unprecedented level of availability and
mobility, the radar can spot a fighter aircraft at 450 km (243Nm
and cruise missiles or small aircraft at 250 km. The radar features
electronic stabilization between -6 and +5 degrees.
Kyodo
news says the Japanese defense ministry is considering permanently deploying
Patriot
surface-to-air defense missile interceptors at its Tokyo
headquarters.
