AN/ASG-14 radar fire control system

Source: Internet Editor: Author: Time :2004-03-29 big middle small Name Search ranging radar Institutional pulse Band X Research and development unit RCA, General Electric Equip time in January 1958 the United States Air Force's equipment F-104A, the same year in October improved equip U.S. Air Force F-104C tactical Equipment model F-104A / C, T-39B With weapons M-61 (T-171)-type "Vulcan" style six gun, AIM-9B "Sidewinder" air to air missiles, AIR-2A "monster" empty nuclear rockets Working condition searches, distance tracking, electronic resistance Technical Features The radar is AN/ASG-14 fire control system. System consists of an optical gyro gunsight, ranging airborne search radar, infrared detectors, which mainly used for air to air interception. System can only be used in case of good weather, but only with "front tracking" and "pure track" approach to target. Search ranging radar system is mainly used to search for the target and the distance to the target sight input data and the target position data from the look is displayed in a display. ASG-14 radar can not automatically track angle, targeting and manipulation arms fire. ASG14 system has three operating states: search state, distance tracking status, electronic warfare state. Systems with ASG-14 F-104 aircraft, the intercepting aerial targets, it usually take off from the ground and receiving radar vectoring, where the airspace to reach the target by the ASG-14 radar in the airspace in front of 90 conical helically scanning, search target. When the aircraft 16 kilometers away from the target, the pilot pressed the switch on the control column tracking, radar tracking into the state where the antenna beam fanning airspace done at 20 conical scan. ASG-state electronic countermeasures system, also known as homing state radar transmitter does not work, the radar as a source of electrical interference directed seeker. Homing state, the antenna scanning and display sweep depends on the "homing" in which the switch is turned on before the radar working condition. If the track is connected to the former state, the antenna remains conical scan; when the system is turned on before the search state, the antenna remains helical scan. Display on the screen only shows the source of interference, and can only determine its position. Performance data Operating Frequency 9000 ~ 9600MHz (Airborne magnetron tuning) Transmit power 140kW (peak) PRF 1000 25Hz; tracking state 1300Hz Pulse width Search Status: 1s; tracking status: 0.5s Form of a parabolic reflector antenna antenna aperture approximately 70cm Beamwidth Search: 3.9 cone beam tracking: 3.9 10 fan beam search distance 37km Search 90 cone in front of the aircraft search methods helical scan scanning speed of 90 cone helical scan done when 550r/min, scan cycle 3s Tracking Distance 18.5km Tracking range 90 cone in front of the aircraft tracking mode conical scanning (azimuth no automatic tracking)

Relative velocity range 740 ~ 2965km / h Display Type search: PPI; tracking: distance ring, relative speed receiver sensitivity 96 ~ 106dBmW IF 30MHz IF bandwidth of 2.5MHz Weight 77kg Using height 21340m Adapt to the temperature -54 ~ +71 Extension Overview Electronic synchronizer a radar modulators, transmitters a waveguide assembly a set of radar diplexers, 1 set of radar antenna mixer IF amplifier 1 a self-frequency modulation amplifier a distance calculator displays a range and bearing 1 (ASG-14TI of 2) Low power a motor servo drive components 1 Reference material "AFM", 1969. The ASG14 was a very simple set even compared to the to the E4(F86D). It used a spiral scan about a fixed axis about 3 degrees (I think) below the aircraft waterline. In search the entire antenna dish and feedhorn assembly was spinning about 100 rpm and slowly 'opened up' from dead center to 45 degrees off boresight. That took about 3 seconds. Then it snapped back to center (the test bench seemed to jump) and the cycle repeated. The max range on the scope was 20 n.m. If you picked up a target the blip was a small segment of an arc if it was 45 off axis, the length of the arc increasing as as the angle off axis decerased until when it ws on axis the blip became a complete circle. There was no angle track capability at all; the pilot did that by flying the 104 to point at the blip. Once inside 10nm the pilot could lock on in range only by depressing the radar ranging button on the stick. The antenna stopped its diverging scan and simply spun about the boresight axis. The pilot could position a range gate over teh target and once locked on the set fed radar range to the gunsight's ballistic computer. A needle in a gauge at the bottom of the scope indicated overtake. The sight reticle would indicate range in nm if missiles were selected, 1000s of feet if guns were selected. The radar was tunable to combat ECM and also had a tunable ECM HOME function where it was in receive-only. (This did work quite well on B52s and EB57s) There was also an IR sight - that hafmoon window at the base of the armored windshield - that used a scanning system like a Nipkow disc TV set of the early days. There were 2 spinning discs, one with an arc shaped slit running one way, the other with a reverse arc. If there was no target out there, the senstive CdS (I think) element's output was cut off by an AGC-like circuit. But a spot IR target would result in a momentary signal and that, amplified, would flash a neon bulb. The resulting flash would be foucssed through a pair of similar synchronised spinning discs and that output was reflected off the gunsight combining glass. The resulting 'arced cross' was visible to the pilot and he flew the aircraft to put the pipper on the cross. The range was adequate for guns, around 3-4000 feet. As simple and as crude as it sounds, it worked! The AIM9Bs were boresighted along with the radar and the gunsight. I got to shoot at a Firebee once and I was tracking the drone strictly on radar. When I got a mile behind it I called "Flares" and seconds later heard the buzzing growl in the missile.

I looked up through the sight and the pipper was on the flare. The missile then knocked the flare off its mount. (The warhead was clipped to save the drone - #2 got the other flare and #3 got the drone itself. All in all the ASG14 was a simple reliable and effective weapons system - it's simplicity was enabled by the 104's ability to catch anything it was after. After exepriencing the slavery required to maintain an F86D/E4 and then the F102's MG10 with its incessant need for WSEM (missile system) testing the 104/ASG14 was a real treat. Imagine changing the radar package in 20 minutes! And aircraft availability averaged <AVERAGED> over 90%! What a change from even the F102! The F86D/E4 and the F102A/MG10 both had nutating feedhorns. It was easy to tell from the scope when the nutation motor wasn't spinning because the jizzle band was now a narrow line, as in ground map, when it didn't spin anyway. In the F104A ASG14 system the pilot did the angle tracking. I was wrong when I said the feedhorn tilted with the dish; it sat still as the dish tilted and spun. The pilot flew the airplane toard the blip. The blip would extand in arc until it formed a complete circle. The aircraft was then pointed - boresighted - on the target and the pilot applied as much power as was needed to close to ID/firing range. To repeat, the system did not lock on in angle, only range, and that for overtake and weapons firing range purposes. It was simple, reliable and effective. Excellent example of KISS. BTW it was also simple enough so that the sophisticated ECM gear was pretty ineffective against it. I flew some tests against 'fancy' stuff and all it did was put some clutter on the scope. Certainly the only thing it really did to us was confirm the 'hostility' of the target. (No, we didn't get to shoot; SAC wouldn't have liked it)

His fancy electronic devices put a few flecks on our scopes but didn't particularly bother us and we deduced from what we could see that our 1956 ASG14 radars were not sophisticated enough to be bothered. I don't know how familiar you are with RCA's ASG14 but it's a modern analog to the RAF's AI Mk 8 used in WW2. Basically it is a spiral scan search radar with no angle track capability. Very simple in construction and operation; just find him on the 20-mile (max!) scope, turn toward him to fly him to the center and go get him. He'll show up as a small arc on the scope when he's 45 degrees off the nose in the turn. You know when he's dead ahead (on boresight) because then he paints as a circle around the center of the scope the circle's radius is his range. The set can, however, lock on and track a target in (only!) range from 10 miles on in. Press a button on the stick grip and the antenna reverses direction and generates about a 10 degree conical scan. The pilot has to keep the target centered by flying the airplane, as I said, since there is no angle track capability at all. It does, when locked on, feed range to the computing gunsight; effectively, too. Range numbers show up on the sight; in miles when missiles are selected, feet when guns are selected. Handily, the Sidewinders look right along the same axis and will growl when they see the target. By the way, live harmonization proved the Zipper's M61 20mm Gatling gun had a meager dispersion of only 3 mils. It was electrically driven firing belted ammo so 'only' fired 67 rounds per second.