The AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel is an

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

pulse-Doppler A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars and ...

3D radar 3D radar provides for radar ranging and direction in three dimensions. In addition to range, the more common two-dimensional radar provides only azimuth for direction, whereas the 3D radar also provides elevation. Applications include weather rada ...

system used to alert and cue Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD)

weapons A weapon, arm, or armament is any implement or device that is used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime (e.g., murder), law ...

to the locations of hostile targets approaching their front line forces. It is currently produced by

Raytheon Missiles & Defense Raytheon Missiles & Defense (RMD) was one of four business segments of RTX Corporation. Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, its president was Wes Kremer. The business produced a broad portfolio of advanced technologies, including air and missile de ...

. First built in 1995 as a modification of

AN/TPQ-36 AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder weapon locating system is a transportable radar developed in the mid-late 1970s by Hughes Aircraft Company, manufactured by Northrop Grumman and ThalesRaytheonSystems. After testing the system achieved initial operational ca ...

A for search and track role in the Norwegian

NASAMS NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System, also known as Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) is a short- to medium-range ground-based air defense system developed by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) and RTX Corpor ...

air defense system, the Sentinel radar is deployed with forward area

air defense Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

units of the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

. Mounted on a towed platform, it can be positioned remotely from the rest of the unit. In accordance with the

Joint Electronics Type Designation System The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...

(JETDS), the "''AN/MPQ-64''" designation represents the 64th design of an Army-Navy electronic device for ground mobile radar combination equipment. The JETDS system also now is used to name all

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

electronic systems.

Main characteristics

The antenna uses phase-frequency electronic scanning technology, forming sharp 3D pencil beams covering large surveillance and track volume. It uses a rotating platform with a high scan rate (30 RPM) to provide 360 degree coverage. The radar is designed with high resistance to

electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to countermeasure, trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny ...

(ECM) and

anti-radiation missile An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ta ...

s (ARM). The system automatically acquires, tracks, classifies, identifies and reports high- and low-altitude targets, including

cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s, and both rotary- and fixed-wing

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

. Identification of friendly aircraft is aided by

identification friend or foe Identification, friend or foe (IFF) is a combat identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an ''interrogation'' signal and then sends a ''response'' that identifies the broadcaster. IFF syst ...

(IFF) interrogation. The system can be deployed using HMMWV fitted with a 10 kW 400 Hz 115/200 VAC on-board power generator. It can be operated

autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

ly and communicate with the

fire direction center In the US system for land-based field artillery, the field artillery team is organized to direct and control indirect artillery fire on the battlefield. Since World War I, to conduct indirect artillery fire, three distinct components have evolve ...

via

wideband In communications, a system is wideband when the message bandwidth significantly exceeds the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Some communication links have such a high data rate that they are forced to use a wide bandwidth; other links ma ...

fiber-optic link. It can also distribute its data over a

SINCGARS Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) is a VHF combat network radio (CNR) used by U.S. and allied military forces. In the CNR network, the SINCGARS’ primary role is voice transmission between surface and airborne comman ...

radio network.

AN/MPQ-64A1 Improved Sentinel

Under A1 Improved Sentinel modernization program, existing Sentinel units are equipped with modern digital

COTS COTS may refer to: * Commercial off-the-shelf, products that are commercially available and can be bought "as is" * Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, a NASA program for delivery to the International Space Station by private companies * ...

-based electronics for signal and data processing, which ensures greater performance and allows software modification for quick updates of fielded systems. Waveform upgrades for the receiver/exciter and the replacement of the transmitter with power amplifier modules allows Sentinel to generate, receive and filter low-intensity target classification waveforms. Variable rotation rate increases time on target and position the antenna to improve classification and tracking of smaller cruise missile targets. Updated software supports classification of beyond visual range targets and electronic countermeasures. The upgrade provides a significant range extension and better detection against subsonic cruise missiles, slow-moving Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and drones, and rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft.

AN/MPQ-64F1

Updated version of Improved Sentinel for the

2 air defense system.

AN/MPQ-64M2

Employed by the Dutch

Joint Ground-based Air Defence Command The Joint Ground-based Air Defence Command (Dutch (language), Dutch: ''Defensie Grondgebonden Luchtverdedigingscommando, DGLC'') is a joint command of the Royal Netherlands Army, formed in 2012 after amalgamation of the ''Commando Luchtdoelartiller ...

AN/MPQ-64A3 Enhanced Sentinel

The U.S. Army ordered the A3 Enhanced Sentinel improvement program in 2011. The upgrade includes the TPX-57 Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) modification kit, which consists of a new Ethernet router, enhanced Radar Control Terminal (eRCT), Signal Data Processor (SDP) box, and multiple circuit card assemblies. This will convert existing A1 Improved Sentinel units to A3 Enhanced Sentinel configuration, increasing reliability and fixing identified hardware issues to match the capabilities of the F1 Improved Sentinel. The eRCT enables remote operations and includes a tactical data recorder needed to support

counter-battery radar A counter-battery radar or weapon tracking radar is a radar system that detects artillery projectiles fired by one or more guns, howitzers, Mortar (weapon), mortars or rocket launchers and, from their trajectories, locates the position on the g ...

capabilities. A new operational mode, Multi Mode Sentinel, provides detection for Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (RAM) fire, giving rapid information on the point of origin of the hostile fire as well as an estimate of the impact point. AN/MPQ-64A3 is mounted on a 2.5 ton trailer with an on-board power generator, towed by an armored Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck. Additional updates are planned for the FY2016-2022. The Common Platform Upgrade modifies the prime mover for the rotating antenna to a common Army platform, which allows the sensor to receive commands from the

Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System The United States Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a hardware and fabless company that de ...

Battle Command System (IBCS) is a plug and fight, plug-and-fight network intended to let a radar or any other defensive sensor feed its data to any available weapon—colloquially, ...

(IBCS) network. The Adjunct Sensor upgrade improves countermeasure protection and threat detection by using a separate S-Band antenna. Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) upgrade adds Mode S support with GPS M-Code capability.

AN/MPQ-64A4

In 2019, the U.S. Army selected

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

to develop the

active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled antenna array in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the a ...

(AESA) variant of the radar in a $281 million contract. The Sentinel A4 is a complete redesign of the sensor that uses digital processing and solid-state antenna modules based on

gallium nitride Gallium nitride () is a binary III/ V direct bandgap semiconductor commonly used in blue light-emitting diodes since the 1990s. The compound is a very hard material that has a Wurtzite crystal structure. Its wide band gap of 3.4 eV af ...

(GAN) transmitters. The scalable modular architecture is shared with the long-range AN/TPY-4 radar, which has 1000 individually controlled elements and uses

GPU computing General-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU, or less often GPGP) is the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU), which typically handles computation only for computer graphics, to perform computation in applications traditional ...

for signal processing. The AESA antenna allows extended range, faster and more accurate hostile target recognition, and ability to track more threats. It will detect and track small targets, such as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and Cruise Missiles, and slow targets, such as UAS and Rotary Wing (RW) aircraft, at low altitudes in clutter and urban settings, with high levels of unwanted signals and echoes generated from physical objects in the environment.Exhibit P-40, Budget Line
dacis.com Sentinel A4 will be able to contribute sensor data to the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) network and Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2.

Manufacturer

Produced by

. Before its acquisition by the

Raytheon Company Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major List of United States defense contractors, U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Fou ...

, the Hughes Aircraft Co. developed the AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar at its plant in

Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...

, and manufactured it at its facility in

Forest, Mississippi Forest is a city and the county seat of Scott County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 5,684 at the 2010 census and the population is a minority-majority. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a tot ...

References

External links

Sentinel radar at Raytheon Missiles and Defense
{{Raytheon Ground radars Military radars of the United States Raytheon Company products Military electronics of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 2000s