ASRAD-R (Advanced Short Range Air Defence System - RBS) is a vehicle-mounted
short-range air defense system, designed by a joint German-Swedish effort between
Rheinmetall
Rheinmetall AG is a German automotive and arms manufacturer, headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Its shares are traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange.
History
Rheinmetall was founded in 1889. Banker and investor Lorenz Zuckermandel
L ...
and
Saab Bofors Dynamics. The system is modular and can be mounted on almost any wheeled or tracked vehicle. It has for instance been demonstrated mounted on an
M113 armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Acc ...
.
Normally the same vehicle carries both the main sensor and the main effector of the system. However, thanks to the systems modularity, it can also be delivered in a split configuration with one vehicle carrying the main sensor and several other vehicles carrying the missiles.
The main sensor is Saab's (formerly Ericsson Microwave System) HARD
AESA
Aesa or Aisa ( grc, Αἶσα) was a town of ancient Macedonia. Aesa belonged to the Delian League since it appears on a tribute list to Athens in 434/3 BCE. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World identify Aesa wi ...
air search
3D radar
3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality
* Three-dimensional space
** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data
** 3D film, a ...
with an instrumented range of 20 km or an
Infra-red search and track, depending upon the customer's specifications. The effector is the latest version of the Saab Bofors Dynamics
RBS 70 surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
, called Bolide. The missile is a
laser guidance
Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...
beam riding
Beam-riding, also known as Line-Of-Sight Beam Riding (LOSBR) or beam guidance, is a technique of directing a missile to its target by means of radar or a laser beam. The name refers to the way the missile flies down the guidance beam, which is ai ...
short range missile equipped with a highly effective proximity fuze. It is supposed to be effective against
cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhe ...
s.
Each unit is equipped with four ready-to-fire missiles and an optical day and night sight to continually point the laser beam at the target. This means the system makes use of
ACLOS type of guidance. Since the laser receiver is located at the back of the missile the system is practically immune to jamming but the method can be hampered by very low-visibility atmospheric conditions.
Finland placed the first order in August 2002. The Finnish systems are mounted on
Sisu Nasus (four units) and Mercedes-Benz
Unimog 5000 L/38 4x4s (12 units). Each battery also has four RBS 70 MANPADS launchers with Bolide missiles.
Specifications
*Ceiling: 5,000 m
*Max range: 8,000 m
*Max weight: 900 kg
*Min range: 200 m
Operators
* - designated ItO 2005. 16 vehicle mounted units, some MANPADS units, which equals four batteries (one each for the three rapid reaction forces, and one for the capital area, as a complement for other SAM systems).
See also
* LeFlaSys
Ozelot
The ocelot (''Leopardus pardalis'') is a medium-sized spotted wild cat that reaches at the shoulders and weighs between on average. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Two subspecies are recognized. It is native to the southwes ...
, variant used by the German Army
*
ASRAD-HELLAS
ASRAD Hellas is an advanced short range air defense system developed by Rheinmetall. The Greek army has acquired 54 vehicle-mounted STINGER ASRAD Hellas (German design). The ASRAD Hellas is configured to enable reliable target detection, identifi ...
, variant used by the Greek Army
References
21st-century surface-to-air missiles
Post–Cold War military equipment of Finland
Bofors
Rheinmetall
Saab
Military equipment introduced in the 2000s
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