Enhanced Deployment and System Performance
Hensoldt has completed modernisation of the core test systems for the Cobra artillery location radar, currently in service with several NATO member states.
Cobra is a mobile radar for locating hostile artillery and missile positions and for predicting projectile flight path and impact point, in order to provide early warning and enable protective and/or defensive measures to be enacted. Its first configuration was developed by the Euro-Art International EWIV consortium for the German, French and British armed forces. Today, over 40 systems in various configurations have been deployed by NATO and other armed forces in Europe and beyond.
Under an OCCAR contract placed on behalf of France and Germany, the company has replaced both the Radar Target Generator (RTG) and the Cobra Radar Environment Simulator (CRES), key elements of the system’s test environment that are indispensable for determining optimum deployment and testing system performance.
The RTG is designed to generate primary radar returns and can be placed in the radar’s far field in order to simulate target trajectories. The new RTG takes into account changes in user operational requirements, such as long-term deployment in stationary locations, simultaneous operation of several systems and 24/7 surveillance missions.
The CRES is the key element to test and verify Cobra radar performance in a laboratory environment with reproducible target trajectories. It generates artificial radar returns, allowing the simulation of all kinds of ballistic projectiles, such as missiles, mortar grenades and artillery shells.
