ARTHUR (an acronym for "artillery hunting radar") is a

counter-battery radar A counter-battery radar (alternatively weapon tracking radar or COBRA) is a radar system that detects artillery projectiles fired by one or more guns, howitzers, mortars or rocket launchers and, from their trajectories, locates the position on ...

system originally developed jointly for and in close co-operation with the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

and

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

armed forces by

Ericsson Microwave Systems (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...

in both Sweden and Norway. It is also used by the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

, under the names ''mobile artillery monitoring battlefield radar'' or ''mobile artillery monitoring battlefield asset'' (MAMBA). It is a mobile, passive electronically scanned array C-band

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

for the purpose of enemy

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

acquisition and was developed for the primary role as the core element of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. ...

or division level

counter battery Counter-battery fire (sometimes called counter-fire) is a battlefield tactic employed to defeat the enemy's indirect fire elements (multiple rocket launchers, artillery and mortars), including their target acquisition, as well as their command an ...

sensor system. The vehicle carrying the radar was originally a

Bandvagn 206 Bandvagn 206 (Bv 206) (meaning ''"Tracked Vehicle 206"'' in English) is a tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds (now part of BAE Systems Platforms & Services) for the Swedish Army. It consists of two units, with all f ...

developed and produced by Hägglunds, but is now more often delivered on trucks with ISO fasteners. The radar is now developed by

Saab AB Saab AB (originally , later just SAAB and Saab Group) is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. Headquartered in Stockholm, the development and the manufacturing is undertaken in Linköping. Saab produced automobiles from 19 ...

Electronic Defense Systems (after EMW was sold to Saab in June 2006) and Saab Technologies Norway AS.

Role

The ARTHUR detects

hostile Hostility is seen as form of emotionally charged aggressive behavior. In everyday speech it is more commonly used as a synonym for anger and aggression. It appears in several psychological theories. For instance it is a facet of neuroticism ...

artillery by tracking projectiles in flight. The original ARTHUR Mod A can locate

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

at 15–20 km and 120 mm mortars at 30–35 km with a

circular error probable In the military science of ballistics, circular error probable (CEP) (also circular error probability or circle of equal probability) is a measure of a weapon system's precision. It is defined as the radius of a circle, centered on the mean, ...

of 0.45% of range. This is accurate enough for effective counter-battery fire by friendly

artillery batteries In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

. ARTHUR can operate as a stand-alone, medium-range weapons locating radar or a long-range weapon locating system, consisting of two to four radars working in coordination. This flexibility enables the system to maintain a constant

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

of an area of interest. The upgraded ARTHUR Mod B meets the

's MAMBA requirement for locating guns, mortars or rockets. It can locate guns at 20–25 km and 120 mm mortars at 35–40 km with a circular probable error of 0.35% of range. MAMBA was successfully used by the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, with an

availability In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings: * The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at ...

of 90%. ARTHUR Mod C has a larger antenna and can detect guns at 31 km, mortars at 55 km and rockets at 50–60 km depending on their size, and locate targets at a rate of 100 per minute with CEP 0.2% of range for guns and rockets and 0.1% for mortars. ARTHUR WLR Mod D will have several improvements, including an instrumented range of up to 100 km, an accuracy of 0.15% of range, and will cover an arc of 120°. The detection range is between 0.8 and 100 km and could possibly increase to 200 km. More than 100 targets can be tracked at the same time. It can be carried by a

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally desi ...

or slung under a heavy lift helicopter such as a Chinook. Its air mobility allows it for use by light and rapid reaction forces such as airborne and

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military ...

units.

Nordic Battle Group

The use of the ARTHUR in

Nordic Battle Group The Nordic Battlegroup (NBG) is one of eighteen European Union battlegroups. It consists of around 2,500 soldiers including officers, with manpower contributed from the seven participating Northern European countries, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Ire ...

s will primarily concentrate on preventing the use of artillery barrages in civilian areas, since the radar can identify an artillery unit guilty of targeting civilians. It will also be used to warn friendly mission troops of incoming

indirect fire Indirect fire is aiming and firing a projectile without relying on a direct line of sight between the gun and its target, as in the case of direct fire. Aiming is performed by calculating azimuth and inclination, and may include correcting aim ...

Operational modes

ARTHUR can be operated in two main modes: weapon locating and fire direction. Weapon locating is used to determine the location of the guns, mortars or rocket launchers that fired and their target area. Fire direction is used to adjust the fire of own artillery onto target coordinates.

Weapon locating

When locating enemy artillery, the radar tracks the up-going trajectory of shells, calculates their points of origin and impact and, with other information, displays it to the radar operator(s). Depending on national tactics, techniques, procedures, the commander's orders and the situation, this information may be used to alert any troops in the impact area and engage the hostile batteries with counter-battery fire. If the users have digital communications networks these messages may be sent automatically. The ARTHUR can determine whether the artillery piece is of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during si ...

-type,

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entir ...

-type or mortar-type based upon the curve of the trajectory, the munition's speed, and its range.

Fire direction

When in fire direction mode the radar calculates the expected impact location of the friendly fire. From this corrections are calculated and reported to hit the target coordinates. Sweden also uses the radar for 'fall of shot' calibration.

Threats

Radars are easy to detect and locate if the enemy has the necessary

ELINT Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

/ ESM capability. The consequences of this detection are likely to be attack by artillery fire or aircraft (including anti-radiation missiles) or

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathemat ...

. In other circumstances ground attack with direct fire or short range indirect fire are the main threat. The usual measures against the first are using a

radar horizon The radar horizon is a critical area of performance for aircraft detection systems that is defined by the distance at which the radar beam rises enough above the Earth's surface to make detection of a target at low level impossible. It is asso ...

to screen from ground-based detection, minimising transmission time, deploying radars singly and moving frequently. Swedish ARTHUR units usually operate in groups of three that guard the immediate surroundings.

Operators

Current operators

* –

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also respo ...

: On lease for operations in Afghanistan. * –

Czech Armed Forces The Army of the Czech Republic ( cs, Armáda České republiky, AČR), also known as the Czech Army, is the military service responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic in compliance with international obligations and treaties on collecti ...

: 3 units * –

Danish Army The Royal Danish Army ( da, Hæren, fo, Herurin, kl, Sakkutuut) is the land-based branch of the Danish Defence, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structur ...

: Being phased out under the last agreement for the

Danish Defence Danish Defence ( da, Forsvaret, fo, Danska verjan, kl, Illersuisut) is the unified armed forces of the Kingdom of Denmark charged with the defence of Denmark and its constituent, self-governing nations Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The De ...

* –

Hellenic Army The Hellenic Army ( el, Ελληνικός Στρατός, Ellinikós Stratós, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term ''Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is th ...

* –

Italian Army "The safeguard of the republic shall be the supreme law" , colors = , colors_labels = , march = ''Parata d'Eroi'' ("Heroes's parade") by Francesco Pellegrino, ''4 Maggio'' (May 4) ...

: Initially leased for use in Iraq 2003/2004. In 2009 Italy decided to buy the system which has been in use since at least 2013 in 5 units. * *, to be replaced by 8 Thales Ground Master 200 MM/C in 2024 * * – Reportedly purchased Mod C in 2007, in 2011 Saab received a follow-up order. About 20 are positioned near the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone ( Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ...

. * * * –

: Leased Mod A until Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar becomes available * –

Armed Forces of Ukraine , imports = , exports = , history = , ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine , country=Ukraine The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly know ...

Armed Forces of Ukraine Use British ARTHUR Counter-battery Radar
/ref>

References

{{reflist

External links

at Saab
One35th.com Military encyclopedia

Info about ARTHUR from army.cz
Ground radars Weapon Locating Radar Military radars of Sweden Warning systems Military radars of the United Kingdom Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s