Red Shrimp was an airborne high-bandwidth

radar jammer Radar jamming and deception is a form of electronic countermeasures that intentionally sends out radio frequency signals to interfere with the operation of radar by saturating its receiver with noise or false information. Concepts that blanket the ...

fitted to the

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

and

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. The name was one of the

Rainbow Code The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects. They were mainly used by the Ministry of Supply from the end of the Second World War until 1958, when the ministry was broke ...

s, its official name was ARI.18076, for Airborne Radio Installation. Red Shrimp was based on the

carcinotron A backward wave oscillator (BWO), also called carcinotron or backward wave tube, is a vacuum tube that is used to generate microwaves up to the terahertz range. Belonging to the traveling-wave tube family, it is an oscillator with a wide elect ...

, a new type of

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...

introduced in 1953 by the French company

Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...

. The carcinotron produced

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

s across a wide

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

and could be tuned as quickly as a single input

voltage Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...

could be changed. They rapidly swept through all of the frequencies used by enemy radars, hitting their operational frequencies hundreds of times a second. These would be plotted on the radar's

plan position indicator A plan position indicator (PPI) is a type of radar display that represents the radar antenna in the center of the display, with the distance from it and height above ground drawn as concentric circles. As the radar antenna rotates, a radial tra ...

, filling it with so many "blips" that the bomber was invisible. Red Shrimp remained operational on the V-bomber fleet through its entire history. Although it was still operational during the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, it was considered obsolete and not used in combat.

Operation

Red Shrimp (or ARI 18076) was a wide-coverage jammer for radar between 2.5–3 GHz. This is in what was described as

S band The S band is a designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for a part of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum covering frequencies from 2 to 4 gigahertz (GHz). Thus it crosses the convention ...

at the time (1 GHz - 3 GHz), but is now termed the D and E frequency bands. It was based on a

backward-wave oscillator A backward wave oscillator (BWO), also called carcinotron or backward wave tube, is a vacuum tube that is used to generate microwaves up to the terahertz range. Belonging to the traveling-wave tube family, it is an oscillator with a wide elect ...

(BWO) valve. This is a variable frequency voltage-controlled wide-range oscillator. Changing the control voltage, without requiring any mechanical adjustment, could produce a high-power jamming signal which could be adjusted rapidly to jam any radar frequency. The main target for the jamming was the Fan Song radar, the target acquisition radar of the

S-75 Dvina The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

(NATO:

SA-2 Guideline The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

) surface-to-air missile. The Blue Diver jammers targeted its

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

-band

Knife Rest A knife rest is a piece of kitchenware for resting a used knife without touching the table to prevent cooking fluids from getting onto countertops. Similar tools are the chopstick rest and spoon and chopstick rest used in Asian cuisine and the ...

early warning radar An early-warning radar is any radar system used primarily for the long-range detection of its targets, i.e., allowing defences to be alerted as ''early'' as possible before the intruder reaches its target, giving the air defences the maximum t ...

. The Red Shrimp antenna was quite small and housed in a downward-pointing hemispherical dome, approximately 6 inches in diameter. These were of dielectric material coloured black or dark grey and unpainted. Their signal was broadcast downwards as a cone of around 45° included angle. Later on, as the aircraft switched to operating at extremely low level, this gave a ground coverage patch barely larger than the aircraft's shadow.

Fitment

Valiant

The first Red Shrimp fitment was to a Valiant of the Bomber Command Development Unit. The BCDU was a development unit which operated Valiant WP214 from the end of 1955 as a trials aircraft. By mid-1958 the

Electronic Counter-Measures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

(ECM) fitment which would become standard for the V bombers had been developed. Equipment was mounted in a series of sealed cylindrical drums, each weighing around 200 lbs, the limit of what could be manhandled for servicing. These were installed in the tail of the aircraft and slid into place on an overhead trolley rail. A water-glycol cooling system, the Vapour Cycle Cooling Pack (VCCP), was used to cool the equipment, with a large external cooling air intake. An additional AC power system was added to supply enough electrical power. Rather than being engine-driven, this was an air-powered turbo-alternator.

18 Squadron

From 1958 to 1963 18 Squadron operated as a dedicated ECM squadron, having been formed from the Valiant-equipped C flight of 199 Squadron, which had developed the role post-war. These seven were the only ECM-equipped Valiants. The initial intention for these aircraft was that they would be used for training UK air defences, simulating a Soviet ECM-using threat. Any idea of a war role for them, as an ECM escort for an attack force of Valiant bombers, developed later. This also required 18 Squadron to start training for the same QRA 'scramble' exercises as the Bomber Command main force. The S band jammer of the 18 Squadron Valiants was the

magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while ...

-based US-made AN/APT-16A jammer. This was a much simpler and less capable system, without the frequency agility of the carcinotron devices. The Carpet 4 (ARI 18030, AN/APT-5) spot jammer, had been trialled in Lincolns and also the 18 Squadron Valiants, but it was unreliable and ineffective, so never used. The electrical supply of the Valiant was also a limitation. The Valiant and first Vulcans had a 112 V DC electrical system, although the trials aircraft had a more powerful 240 V AC system. The DC system was not powerful enough to supply active ECM, such as Red Shrimp, and so those aircraft were limited to the radar warning receivers and chaff dispensers. This omission was never upgraded, as the Valiant's service life was so short. From 1958, the new 18 Squadron were based at

RAF Finningley Royal Air Force Finningley or RAF Finningley was a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force station at Finningley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The station straddled the historic county boundaries of both ...

, South Yorkshire, as was the BCDU. Nick Prager, a Czech-born sergeant with the BCDU in the ECM servicing section of the base, together with his wife Jana, supplied photographs of the ECM manual set to the Czech Intelligence Service. He was arrested for this in 1971, after betrayal by the defector

Josef Frolík Josef Frolík (September 22, 1928 – May 1989) was a Czechoslovak spy who, in 1969, defected to the United States and joined the CIA. Childhood Josef Frolík was born in Libušín, Czechoslovakia. He graduated from secondary school at the end of ...

, and sentenced to 12 years for spying. 230 OCU, the training unit for Vulcan crews, was also based at Finningley from 1961. As it became clear that the new low-level penetration role would involve bombers travelling singly, each bomber would need its own ECM fit. The squadron retained a development and training role for some time, but this could be performed by simpler aircraft, such as

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

s, than the Valiants and so 18 Squadron was disbanded in 1963.

Vulcan

Vulcan B.1

The original Vulcan B.1 had a fairly simple ECM fit, with little more than chaff dispensers and the

Orange Putter Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

tail warning receiver from the Canberra and Valiant. Additional equipment could be carried along the side walls of the bomb bay, in a series of up to nine containers. These included the Green Palm VHF voice communications jammer,

Indigo Bracket Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

, an early carcinotron-based jammer, and

Red Carpet A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events. History The earliest known reference to ...

X-band radar jammer. Each system was designed to be as self-contained as possible, with the minimum of additional installation around the airframe. The Olympus 104 engines at this time had insufficient electrical generating capacity for such an ECM fit and so an internal

ram air turbine A ram air turbine (RAT) is a small wind turbine that is connected to a hydraulic pump, or electrical generator, installed in an aircraft and used as a power source. The RAT generates power from the airstream by ram pressure due to the speed of ...

was fitted, as for the trial Valiant WP214. This Turbo Alternator TGA 30 Mk 1 was mounted internally and driven by an air inlet near the port engine air intake.

Vulcan B.2

The Vulcan B.2 and B.1A both used an extended rear fuselage, extended into a more bulbous tailcone. The end of this was now a hemispherical

radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and ...

for the

Red Steer Red Steer, also known as ARI 5919 and ARI 5952 depending on the version, was a tail warning radar used on the British V bomber force. Built by EKCO, it was developed from the experimental AI.20 radar for the English Electric Lightning. The Light ...

tail-warning receiver, rather than the pointed cone of the B.1. A large rectangular box-like duct on the starboard side was the cooling air duct for the condenser of the VCCP. The

braking parachute A drogue parachute is a parachute designed for deployment from a rapidly-moving object. It can be used for various purposes, such as to decrease speed, to provide control and stability, or as a pilot parachute to deploy a larger parachute. V ...

was inside a hatch on the top, now visible as an external bulge. The nine sealed and pressurised drums of the ECM equipment were arranged in two rows within this tail, with access through hatches in the bottom. The Red Shrimp antennae were arranged on panels added between the engines, usually the 3 & 4 engines (starboard). Some aircraft had three on one side, others two and one on each. Blue Diver also used a blade aerial in early years, later wingtip aerials.

Vulcan B.1A

The Vulcan B.1A was an interim design, converted from B.1 aircraft. ECM was a planned part of the new B.2 aircraft with their extended Phase 2C wing, and although there was great urgency to the delivery of the new B.2 aircraft and the first would arrive before the first B.1A, the simpler conversion would permit thirty ECM-equipped aircraft to enter service more quickly than a similar number of B.2s.

Low-level

After the

Nassau Agreement The Nassau Agreement, concluded on 21 December 1962, was an agreement negotiated between President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, and Harold Macmillan, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to end the Skybolt Crisis. A series of meeti ...

at the end of 1962, Britain's primary nuclear deterrent was to switch to the Royal Navy and the submarine-launched

Polaris missile The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missile ...

. A combination of this change of role, and the increasing effectiveness of Soviet anti-aircraft missiles at high altitude, led to the V-bomber force being re-tasked from a high-level attack to a high-low-high profile with a low-level approach. The B.1 aircraft were re-tasked from Spring 1963, the B.2s from 1964. Visible evidence for this was Mod.1877, repainting from

anti-flash white Anti-flash white is a white colour commonly seen on British, Soviet, and U.S. nuclear bombers. The purpose of the colour is to reflect some of the thermal radiation from a nuclear explosion, protecting the aircraft and its occupants. China So ...

to a two-colour camouflage scheme. The Soviet

SA-3 Goa The S-125 ''Neva/Pechora'' (russian: С-125 "Нева"/"Печора", NATO reporting name SA-3 ''Goa'') is a Soviet surface-to-air missile system that was designed by Aleksei Isaev to complement the S-25 and S-75. It has a shorter effective ra ...

missile was now in service, with its Low Blow radar. This could also be countered by Red Shrimp. Despite the change in role, there was no change in the Vulcan ECM fit. There was little development of this for the next twenty years and it became increasingly less effective. Situational awareness of the threat was reasonable, but ability to counter it was reduced. Most obviously, the Red Shrimp jammers were mounted on the underside, facing downwards. At low level, they were masked by the same terrain which the aircraft was using to shield itself and so the area over which they could radiate became inconsequentially small. One important advance which was installed was a

terrain-following radar Terrain-following radar (TFR) is a military aerospace technology that allows a very-low-flying aircraft to automatically maintain a relatively constant altitude above ground level and therefore make detection by enemy radar more difficult. It is ...

(TFR), with a small thimble radome added to the nose, from 1966.

Falklands War

During the

and

Operation Black Buck Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were seven extremely long-range ground attack missions conducted during the 1982 Falklands War by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from 44, 50 and ...

, the Vulcan and its ECM equipment were considered obsolete. Green Palm and Blue Diver at least, although there was still some respect for Red Shrimp. However Red Shrimp was a barrage noise jammer, for which twenty years of countermeasures had developed solutions. The anticipated Argentinian threat of

Super Fledermaus The Super Fledermaus (literally Super Bat), known in Swiss service as the Feuerleitgerät 63, Flt Gt 63 (fire control radar unit 63), is a pulse-radar fire control system, 111 of these systems were in service with the Swiss Air Force from 1965 t ...

, Skyguard AA cannon and

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

were expected to be capable of defeating it, at least at close range. The Vulcans thus borrowed US-made AN/ALQ-101D deflection jammer pods and trained with them over the Spadeadam range. As a result, the Black Buck missions left Red Shrimp unused and relied on the Dash 10.

Victor

From the twenty four B.1A conversions, the

had the same EW fit as the Vulcan, with Red Steer, Blue Saga, Green Palm, Blue Diver, Red Shrimp and chaff dispensers.

TSR2

Design studies during the early development of TSR2 recommended the provision of an X-band carcinotron, such as Red Shrimp, in the aircraft, or at least the provision of space for one. However budget constraints led to this provision being removed from the formal requirement. Naval / Air Staff Target 830 for future jamming provision was still under consideration at the time the TSR2 project was cancelled. The likelihood was that TSR2 would use pylon-carried external equipment, if the mission required it.

Controls

Controls for Red Shrimp, the control unit Type 9422, were simple and amounted to little more than switches to turn it on and off, to switch the two automatic operating modes, and to monitor its performance, current draw and temperature. It was controlled by a small panel on the AEO's lower desk, at the right of the rear cockpit (facing the rear).

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite book , title=Valiant Units of the Cold War , first=Andrew , last=Brookes , publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing , year=2012 , isbn=9781849087544 , page=45 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-S6CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45 {{Cite web , title=MOD Acronyms and Abbreviations , publisher=

MOD Mod, MOD or mods may refer to: Places * Modesto City–County Airport, Stanislaus County, California, US Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Mods (band), a Norwegian rock band * M.O.D. (Method of Destruction), a band from New York City, US ...

, page=32 , url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/227048/acronyms_and_abbreviations_dec08.pdf {{Cite journal , title=EW In The Early Post-War Years – Lincolns To Valiants , author=Wing Commander ‘Jeff’ Jefford , id=Journal 28 , journal=RAF Historical Society , year=2003 , issn=1361-4231 , ref={{harvid, RAF Historical Society, 28 , url=https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal-28-Seminar-Electronic-Warfare.pdf , pages=58–68 {{Cite book , title=High Stakes: Britain's Air Arms in Action 1945-1990 , first=Vic , last=Flintham , publisher=Pen and Sword , year=2008 , isbn=9781844158157 , page=182 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohzOAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA182 {{Cite book , title=Avro Vulcan , publisher=Haynes Publishing , year=2016 , isbn=978-1-78521-083-9 , ref={{harvid, Haynes, Vulcan , pages=106, 108, 110–111 {{Cite book , title=Avro Vulcan, Part 1 , first=Kev , last=Darling , year=2007 , isbn=978-1847992376 , page=35 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wdM5wJlVhpcC&pg=PA35 {{Cite book , title=RAF Strike Command, 1968-2007 , first=Kev , last=Darling , publisher=Casemate Publishers , year=2012 , isbn=978-1848848986 , page=46 {{Cite book , title=Vulcan 607 , first=Rowland , last=White , publisher=Corgi , year=2007 , isbn=9780552152297 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1f1ri0doU9YC&pg=PA523 , pages=199, 211, 331 {{Cite journal , title=Early Warning During the V-Force Era , journal=Royal Air Force Historical Society , author=Wg Cdr Rod Powell , pages=8–11 , date=Winter 2005 , via=XM655 , url=https://xm655.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Newsletter-14-Winter-2005.pdf {{Cite web , title=Radar & EW in the RAF , author=Prof. Steve Roberts , publisher=

RAF Cranfield Cran may refer to: * C-RAN, cellular network architecture *CRAN (R programming language) *Cran (unit), of uncleaned herring *Representative Council of France's Black Associations Surname *Chris Cran (born 1949), a Canadian painter *James Cran (bor ...

, year=2014 , page=24 , url=https://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/media/uploads/resources/Heritage%20Group/16.10.15/Heritage-16.10.15-SelexES-Steve_Roberts.pdf {{Cite book , title=The Avro Vulcan , first=Peter G. , last=Dancey , publisher=Fonthill , year=2014 , isbn=978-1781552322 , pages=96 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SCX5DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT96 {{Cite web , title=Vulcan Cockpit (XL426) - In Detail , date=1 October 2009 , website=UK Airshow Review , url=https://forums.airshows.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=16451 {{Cite book , title=Traitor: British Double Agents 1930-80 , first=John Frayn , last=Turner , publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing , year=2012 , isbn=978-1780967295 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uonvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT132 {{Cite book , title=TSR2: Britain's Lost Cold War Strike Jet , first=Andrew , last=Brookes , publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing , year=2017 , isbn=9781472822482 , pages=70–71 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMA2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 Military electronics of the United Kingdom Electronic warfare equipment

Rainbow Codes The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects. They were mainly used by the Ministry of Supply from the end of the Second World War until 1958, when the ministry was bro ...

Avro Vulcan