AN/TPY-2 X-band radar

 Militär, military radar (en)

The radar uses a trailer-mounted, single-faced 9.2 square meter wideband phased-array antenna. In the antenna there are 72 transceiver modules in semiconductor technology, which supply a total of 25,344 antenna elements. In “forward-based” or volume search mode, the TPY-2’s high power output and beam/waveform agility lets it perform air surveillance to very high altitudes at ranges of up to 1,000 km (600 miles). In “terminal” (targeting) mode, it performs aerial target identification and tracking.

Those targets can include incoming ballistic missiles. While they’re adapted for end to end use against short range ballistic missiles, TPY-2 radars can be used against longer-range missiles as well. Their X-band frequency and narrow beam widths add the additional advantage of being able to tell the difference between smaller objects, such as a warhead vs. space debris (“range resolution”). The penalty is that they’re not as good as the huge SSPARS/UEWR radars at searching wide volumes of space, and of course they have a much shorter range. At present, their best use against long-range attacks is to observe the early stage of missile launches from a forward base, and relay that information to the national command to cue larger radars.

The entire AN/TPY-2 radar system includes:
- The phased-array Antenna Equipment Unit (AEU)
- A Cooling Equipment Unit (CEU) for use with the antenna array
- The Electronic Equipment Unit (EEU)
- A 1.3 MW Prime Power Unit (PPU)
- An Operator Control Unit (OCU) which lets soldiers see the radar’s results, monitor the system, and communicate. It has its own built-in power unit.

Frequency: 8.55 - 10 GHz (X-band)
Instrumented range: 1000 km

September 2011: Turkey agreed to emplace an AN/TPY-2 radar, as part of the EPAA Array system. The radar will be deployed facing Iran and lined to U.S. Navy systems.