On December 16, the Vietnam People's Army released the training and use of BFSR-SR battlefield surveillance radar imported from India. This radar is a rare weapon imported from India by the Vietnamese army in recent years, and it is also one of the few equipment exported by India to be widely exported. The purpose of this radar is more special, it is not used to detect aircraft or anti-artillery, but is mainly used to detect personnel and vehicles, for anti-infiltration and scout battlefield reconnaissance missions.
Pictured: BFSR-SR battlefield surveillance radar demonstrated by the Vietnamese army
Pictured: BFSR-SR battlefield surveillance radar
BFSR-SR battlefield surveillance radar is developed by India's Bharat Electronics Co., Ltd., it is a portable battlefield surveillance radar, the total weight of about 30 kg, mainly composed of radar antenna, tripod that can drive antenna rotation, display terminal and 24V battery. Because dense plants have an attenuation effect on electromagnetic waves, battlefield surveillance radar in the selection of working bands, in addition to the need to consider the detection distance, detection accuracy, but also need to consider the penetration ability of trees and trees, generally choose millimeter wave or centimeter wave band. The BFSR-SR is the selected J-band, which belongs to the centimeter band, the frequency is between 10GHZ and 20GHZ, according to Bharat's data, it has 21 working channels to choose from. In terms of antenna design, this radar uses a microstrip chip array antenna, which has multi-target tracking capabilities and can track up to 50 targets at the same time.
Pictured: BFSR-SR radar equipped by the Indian army
In terms of specific detection capabilities, according to the manual of Bharat, the maximum detection distance of BFSR-SR radar for standing and walking individual soldiers is 2 kilometers, the maximum detection distance of individual soldiers in creeping operations is 500 meters, the maximum detection distance of group operation soldiers is 5 kilometers, the maximum detection distance of light vehicles such as driving jeeps is 8 kilometers, and the maximum detection distance for targets such as traveling tanks and large trucks is 10 kilometers. Why these targets in the manual must be moving, because the battlefield surveillance radar basically uses the Doppler effect to extract targets from the complex background, relative to aircraft and shells, the movement speed of ground targets is slower, and the leaves and branches in the environment will also move in the case of wind blowing, which will also produce a Doppler effect to interfere with target extraction, so battlefield surveillance radar is more tested back-end signal processing and clutter elimination.
In terms of display control terminals, BFSR-SR radar uses a 10.4-inch LCD display with built-in electronic maps and GPS, which is also the common design of various battlefield surveillance radars. GPS can help the operator quickly confirm the location of the radar set up, making it easier and more intuitive to display the detected target location on the electronic map. BFSR-SR radar to the target ranging error of the maximum is 50 meters, the direction finding accuracy error is less than 4 degrees, the operator can be based on the ranging and direction finding information, combined with the electronic map to guide the artillery to strike. In addition, the terminal can also be connected to the headphones to output alarm audio, reminding the operator that the target has been found, or that a target is approaching. The top of the radar antenna array can also be equipped with a thermal imager, the screen output to the terminal, after the radar finds the target, the operator can directly switch the thermal image screen, identify and confirm, see what is it, but also to eliminate the false alarm.
Pictured: The vehicle-mounted erection method of the Indian reconnaissance detachment
Pictured: The reconnaissance vehicle of the Indian armored reconnaissance detachment is also equipped with this radar
In terms of specific use, battlefield reconnaissance radars can be equipped with reconnaissance detachments to conduct reconnaissance of approaching or reconnaissance behind enemy lines, set up key points of the enemy army or near important roads, observe and count the activities of enemy vehicles and personnel, and can also directly guide artillery fire to strike. Because of the long detection distance, the reconnaissance personnel can be relatively safe. When defending, it can also be equipped with forward detachments to guard positions or key roads to prevent infiltration or sneak attacks by the other side. There are not many BFSR-SR procured by Vietnam, so it is mainly used by reconnaissance detachments. The Indian army itself bought more than 1,400 units, equipped with front-line troops and troops in special areas such as Kashmir. In addition to them, countries such as Indonesia, Sudan and Mozambique are also procured, and Bharat is also marketing the radar in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Pictured: The 376 infantry reconnaissance radar launched by Changhong Factory in the 70s
Battlefield reconnaissance radar is actually not a strange thing, the Vietnam War was already mature and put into the battlefield, and China's development of this radar is also very early. As early as the mid-70s, Changhong Factory has taken out 375 and 376 battlefield surveillance radars and put into use, these decades the domestic manufacturers have also updated several generations, including two coordinates, three coordinates, active phased array, ring array, etc. There have been many, visiting the domestic radar exhibition and defense exhibition friends must have seen a lot. In addition to the simple detector vehicle, there are also combined with the anti-artillery can detect both personnel and vehicles, but also can detect shells and aircraft, such as foreign trade LD-1, in addition to 12 kg of ultra-light foreign trade LD-3-3, etc., the model of domestic manufacturers can be said to be as much as cattle hair.
Pictured: The BRM-1K armored reconnaissance vehicle developed by the Soviet Union, in addition to the 1RL133-1 battlefield reconnaissance radar at the rear of the turret, also has an ERRS-1 radio direction finder on the vehicle, which is to deal with the battlefield reconnaissance radar.
Of course, there is also a way to deal with this kind of radar, the battlefield surveillance radar in the process of emitting electromagnetic wave detection is also exposing themselves, the major countries and armies are very focused on electronic confrontation, the electric resistance detachment of the front-line troops are equipped with electronic reconnaissance vehicles, can measure the radio and battlefield surveillance radar frequency and direction finding, the simplest cross direction finding can locate the radar position, and then the artillery harvest the results.