360 Radar

[leonardodewinchy]

After recent questions asked of "civvy operators", which organisations in the UK actually use 360 radar for SAR???

[[email protected]]

No-one has a full 360 degree radar but the RN (2 flights) and the RAF (6 flights) have a radar with the scanner mounted behind the MRGB on the spine which gives a 330 degree view (15 degrees blind arc either side of the nose).

So the answer is that 2/3 of the land-based UK SAR assets use a full sweep radar instead of a weather radar with (I think) a 60 degree sweep pointing forwards that the others have.

Not only does the Sea King radar give an all round picture but it was actually designed for maritime use and has a minimum radar range of 75m - this allows the aircraft to close with vessels/cliffs etc in almost zero visibility and means you can keep the aircraft pointing into wind as you manoeuvre, having let down to the hover.

The all round picture means that you always turn into an area that has been cleared by radar although the blind arc on the nose means regular clearing turns if you are operating below 1000' over the sea.

A full 360 radar would be the best solution but would be difficult to achieve without extra scanners and increased complexity/weight unless you use a mast mounted radar which would have a huge blank area in the aircraft shadow or un underbelly mounting which would limit ground clearance for landing on uneven ground.

[Rescue1]

Crab
Quote No-one has a full 360 degree radar but the RN (2 flights) and the RAF (6 flights) have a radar with the scanner mounted behind the MRGB on the spine which gives a 330 degree view (15 degrees blind arc either side of the nose)

So your saying this is a great radar apart from the fact you can't see where your going

A radar on the nose has to be a better than that;)
I'm sure there are some SeaKings going around with both systems just not British now that would be better.
Must have run out of money when it was asked for eh J;)

Also is there not a small arc at the rear of the aircraft that the radar can't see.

[leopold bloom]

Have a look at the Norwegian Sea Kings, they solved the problem by combining a nose mounted radar with the ARI 5955. :ok:

[[email protected]]

Rescue - yes there is a small (4 degrees) area either side of the tail but it is a small price to pay for almost full sweep coverage. A nose mounted radar does let you see where you are going (blind arc clearances are very straightforward and if you have any drift on the area you are heading into is more visible) but when positioning for a letdown IMC in an area of multiple radar contacts, the ability to see the area you are going to turn into before you do it is important.

Consider a multi asset search over the water in very poor vis - TCAs would just alert all the time and be useless - our aging Sea Kings with I-Band transponders are instantly visible on the (almost) 360 radar picture giving the crew very valuable Situational Awareness.

The try a 180 letdown into a strong onshore wind when you need to close to the coast/cliffs - again in very poor vis - once in the hover with an all round radar you can close to the min radar range (75m for us) with confidence - not feasible with only a forward looking setup.

There may well be systyems available for a true all-round picture but none on present UK SAR assets despite the new and shiny nature of some of the machines - it will come down to cost if the capability is desired and for SARH, how much the ideal of 'no lesser capability' is compromised.

[skadi]

The german Seakings also use an additional nosemounted antenna for covering the forward blind arc:

http://www.marine.de/portal/a/marine/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLNzKOD_RxAsmB2d5mIfqRcNGglFR9 X4_83FR9b_0A_YLciHJHR0VFAPlx_Jc!/delta/base64xml/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS80SVVFLzZfMjNfUVY1?yw_contentURL=%2F01DB070000 000001%2FW269ABVP167INFODE%2Fcontent.jsp

skadi

[leopold bloom]

The AW 101 can of course be fitted with a 360 degree radar.:O

[Tallsar]

Now there's a thought!:oh::D;)