Tamara (sensor system)

Tamara is a passive radar from the 1980s of the then Czechoslovak armaments company Tesla (now ERA) in Pardubice . It is an abbreviation of the Russian name "Техническая Апаратура Ϻгновенной Автоматической Разведки" / radio system with fast automatic tuning. The company's internal designation is KRTP-86 or KRTP-91 for the modernized version. The NATO code name is Trash Can . Tamara is the successor to the Ramona radar system . The first copies were delivered in 1986.

System description

Side view of a Tatra 815 with the telescopic mast folded

antenna

Tamara has several measurement options. As a passive radar, Tamara has the characteristics of a receiving station for a bistatic radar device. As a transmitting station, it uses non-cooperative transmitters such as radio and television transmitters or third-party radar stations, whose location must be known in order to determine a distance by means of transit time measurements. Since the antenna cannot determine the direction with high precision, the side angle must be determined by means of two distance measurements from different directions.

A second measurement possibility is the direction finding of outgoing radiation from the aircraft itself. The ambiguities arising in the above transit time measurement can be reduced to a reliable, unambiguous result by such a direction finding. Practically every radar has such bearing options and is used to determine the location of interference generators. The accuracy of the direction determination depends on the directivity of the radar antenna. Tamara is at a disadvantage here because she does not have a highly directive antenna. The advantage, on the other hand, is the very large frequency range of the Tamara antenna compared to other radar devices. Radiation from active radar systems, friend-foe detection systems , navigation systems, distance measuring systems and interference devices in the frequency range from 0.82 GHz to 18 GHz can be received.

The Tamara system consists of eight vehicles, which are divided into three items. Each of the three aerial vehicles is equipped with a telescopic articulated mast which, when extended, reaches a height of 25 meters. The barrel-shaped antenna is mounted at the top. The so-called “left” or “right post” consists of an antenna and receiving device, which are each wirelessly connected to the “central post”. The left and right posts can be positioned up to 35 km away. In addition to an antenna and receiving device, the “central post” also consists of an analysis and situation display unit. There are two versions: a Tatra truck-based version and a stationary version called Flora . Normal fighter planes and bombers can be located at a distance of up to 450 km.

With passive radar, stealth aircraft can be better located. Tamara is particularly suitable for this function, as this “stealth function” is mainly based on reflecting incident electromagnetic radiation in directions other than the direction of origin. A bistatic radar system such as passive radar thus receives considerably more reflected energy than a monostatic radar.

The successor to the system is the Vera Radar .

Users

Ex-Bundeswehr KRTP-86 in the Air Force Museum Berlin-Gatow

Tesla probably produced a total of 23 Tamara units. About 20 KRTP-86 and KRTP-91 units were shipped to the Soviet Union in the 1980s . The USA are also said to have received a device indirectly. The GDR procured a KRTP-86 radar in 1989. In the course of reunification , the Tamara radar was taken over by the Bundeswehr and was the most modern piece of equipment that the Bundeswehr took over from the NVA. The individual components were placed on Tatra 815 and MAN gl trucks. The system was used until 2010. It was last stationed at the Electronic Warfare Battalion 912 in Nienburg / Weser . An aerial vehicle is exhibited in the open-air area of the Bundeswehr Air Force Museum. No other exports are known. According to Der Spiegel , the Czech military suspected that the United States was trying to thwart global sales of the system.