Tobyhanna Army Depot, the Defense Department's leading C4ISR support provider, is home to a one-of-a-kind chamber capable of simulating a range of munitions to test radars undergoing repairs.
The depot, located in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, is charged with reconstituting C4ISR equipment after it is damaged in the field. Upon repair, these systems must be tested to ensure they will work once shipped back to front lines. Previously, certain systems, such as lightweight counter-mortar radars that include the TPQ-50 and TPQ-49, had to be sent to the outdoor test range in Yuma, Arizona, in which live mortars would be fired to test the system.
But that process is expensive and can take vital sensors out of commission for too long.
Tobyhanna's test chamber is capable of simulating a large variety of munitions — rockets, artillery and mortar — allowing for repair and testing to be conducted at the same facility.
"We don't put it in any simulated mode. [The radar] thinks it is in a certain area being tested. We simulate fire towards it, artillery and rockets," Constantine Georgiades, a production engineering technician, told C4ISRNET in an exclusive tour of Tobyhanna Army Depot. "We use that test to qualify the radar at the end once it is repaired. Once it is tested here it goes back to theater or back to our unit that sent it in for repair."
In eight months, the chamber paid for itself, Georgiades said, adding that during the surge of troops overseas, they were pushing radars through the facility very rapidly. "It was amazing how quick the savings added up," he said.
"The initial cost of this room is $7-8 billion. Through testing we recoup that money in about eight months," he said. "It costs roughly around $35,000 back then to test these. We test at a fraction of that cost. ... [R]ange time [and] frequency restrictions aren't a problem here."
Additionally, without having to send these radars to Yuma, they can get them back to the force much faster. "The turnaround time is fairly quick. Once the radar is repaired we test it. We can have it turned around and shipped out either to theater or back to the unit that sent the radar in," he added.
Foam cones surround the entire chamber, which creates a clean radio frequency area and simulates a large, outdoor environment that tricks the radar into thinking it's outside.
"Because we're in such a compact space, if this was exposed to any metal, the radar pulse would be reflected back to the receiver and blind it or cause the radar damage," Georgiades said. "The nice thing about that is the radar becomes very sensitized to the clean environment and we can tell if there are any issues with the receive path on the lower end because if you put it in a cluttered environment and there was a problem already in a clean environment, the radar wouldn't track properly."
The TPQ-49 radar is man-packable, allowing war fighters to carry it where needed and mount it on a tripod or vehicle. The larger TPQ-50 is heavier but still packable and can be mounted to the back of a Humvee for quick response. Georgiades said these radars use an electronically scanned beam that does a 360-degree scan so many times per second and looks for targets in the air. Every time a target is in the air it starts to trace where the target came from and collect that data; it can track up to 20 targets in the air at one time.
The nice thing about this radar, he said, is it can be deployed quickly and in small, urban areas where indirect fire is an immediate threat to the soldier. The radar will help find where that fire is coming from and help the user eliminate it, he said.
These systems are being provided to Ukrainian forces, who are battling Russian-backed separatists in the eastern portion of the country. "Two years ago under a presidential order, the older version of the 49s, which are no longer in service anywhere, were going to be demilled," said Georgiades, adding that the U.S. gave 20 to the Ukrainian army. A few months ago the Marine Corps — which is the primary U.S. military service that uses this system — deployed 10 of the newer 49s to Ukraine.
These systems are "extremely useful in the environment they are fighting, especially in the urban area," Georgiades said, as forces can deploy these in a perimeter and create a wall from which they can watch indirect fire. The older versions only had a range of 5 kilometers, which can be a little close for comfort. The newer versions, by contrast, double this range, allowing for a safer distance.
The Ukrainians are finding these systems very useful and want a lot more, Georgiades said. While these systems can be used for other functions, C4ISRNET is not disclosing them at the request of military personal for operational security reasons.
Mark Pomerleau is a reporter for C4ISRNET, covering information warfare and cyberspace.
