Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) division ELTA Systems has unveiled new modular sensor systems. IAI’s speciality is the creation of cutting-edge systems and sensors. Improved situational awareness for combat vehicle personnel is achieved through the deployment of these advanced radars and electro-optical sensors for fire detection.
Combat vehicle crews must immediately identify ground and airborne threats to survive and accomplish their duties. Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), hostile infantry, and armoured vehicles are all ground threats. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often known as drones and loitering weapons, are all examples of hazards that can be found in the air. Several technologies, including radar systems, electro-optics, and fire detection sensors, are deployed to achieve this critically important state of situational awareness. When these technologies are deployed, coordinated, and integrated, they supply commanders with crucial information to make rapid and effective decisions.
ELM-2135 StormGuard is an X-band phased-array radar system designed against many simultaneous threats, such as missiles and projectiles, regardless of the weather. The StormGuard radar system ensures surveillance of the local surroundings within an angle of 90 degrees to 360 degrees by utilising up to four different flat-panel antenna configurations. This enables the system to deliver total situational awareness. Radar data on approaching projectiles or guided anti-tank munitions are presented on the screen of vehicles equipped with StormGuard when the vehicles operate in fire detection mode. The onboard computer efficiently processes incoming ATGMs and determines the approach vector to make taking effective countermeasures easier. The StormGuard system can detect humans, cars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones, and other ground and airborne threats when in tracking mode.
The passive fire indicator is a useful addition to the active capabilities of the StormGuard system, which are provided by ELTA’s OTHELLO (ELO-5220). These active capabilities use electro-optics to identify artillery projectiles like cannons, mortars, RPGs, and ATGMs. When OTHELLO detects an enemy fire, it determines the direction and altitude from where the shots are coming. This highly effective and technologically advanced technology achieves a high detection probability while maintaining a low rate of false alarms. OTHELLO’s pinpoint accuracy makes it possible to immediately and effectively return fire when traditional optics cannot locate the opponent’s location.
These systems are designed to be mounted on tanks, Armoured Personnel Carriers, and other varieties of combat vehicles during their deployment. The modular structure enables a wide variety of setups. It is possible to mount StormGuard and OTHELLO independently or in conjunction as part of a self-protection system. Furthermore, they can be mounted on remote weapon stations and fixed combat locations. They are offered in a range of dimensions and degrees of performance, which allows them to satisfy mounting needs that are special to individual customers. Concurrently, they provide essential assistance to the combatants, which enables them to react promptly to dangers via evasive movements and retaliatory fire. This is made possible by the support that the warriors receive.
The ELTA sensor systems have been tested in combat and found to be successful. It is hard to overstate the importance of maintaining a strong awareness of the current situation. Small infantry units using rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs), unmanned aircraft and hovering munitions have been responsible for destroying hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles in the current combat in Ukraine. In many situations, these munitions were delivered at the very last minute before the start of hostilities, with very little time for training beforehand.
However, they were effective in their deployment because the vehicles they aimed at did not have systems that could detect real-time threats or quickly locate the source of fire after initial contact with the enemy.
Even vehicles equipped with defence systems have been shown to be susceptible to attack. They are finally destroyed when their protective interceptors are exhausted, even though they can endure fire for extended periods. As a result of this weakness, commanders lose their confidence and motivation to engage in proactive warfare, inhibiting the manoeuvrability of mechanised formations.
The sensor systems of ELTA provide commanders and vehicle crews with an effective instrument for the detection and tracking of targets, the automatic recognition of threats, and the capacity to monitor wide areas. They give the reliable situational awareness essential for fulfilling the mission on a battlefield becoming increasingly complicated and hazardous.