The Ground Master 400 is a mobile radar system proposed by ThalesRaytheonSystems (TRS) and developed by Thales. ThalesRaytheonSystems, the joint venture between Thales and Raytheon, offers radar sensors for homeland defense, tactical air defense, counter-battery and weapon system coordination markets. With the technological strengths of Thales and Raytheon, TRS is positioned to offer customizable solutions matched with coordinated support for all customers throughout the world. The Ground Master 400 (GM400) is a 3-D long-range Air Defense radar, offering detection from very high to very low altitudes. It tracks a wide range of targets from highly maneuverable tactical aircraft flying below several hundred feet to the unconventional small radar cross-section device as Unmanned Air Vehicles or cruise missiles, ensuring an excellent global air picture. The radars are currently in production at Thales’s Limours site in France Since the product launch in 2008, the GM 400 radar has already been purchased by customers including Slovenia, Malaysia, France, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Canada. Furthermore, the GM 400 has been selected to protect the European Space Agency's Guiana Space Centre.
Variants
The GM400 family includes the GM403 and the GM406. The GM406 has a transmitter that is twice as powerful as the GM403, giving it a 20 percent greater range. The GM406 is primarily designed to equip fixed sites, with the GM403 designed to be deployable.
The GM400 in transport configuration has the dimensions and handling equivalent to a 20-foot shipping container, and weighs less than ten tons. The Ground Master (GM) family architecture is based on common building blocks and interfaces, a Stacked Beam Concept and Digital Beam Forming, providing complete range and altitude coverage. For ease of maintenance, the GM radars can be remotely monitored using a standard protocol underpinned by cyber solutions. GM 400 includes an Electronic Counter Measures feature to cope with the most severe electronic warfare environment including decoy device capabilities, while the S-band represents the better choice considering EW (wider bandwidth) and civilian application interference constraints. The Ground Master 400 radar is the first product to combine three revolutionary concepts: ‘digital radar’, ‘e-radar’, and ‘green radar’.
Missions
The GM 400 is a 3D long-range radar, offering detection from very high to very low altitudes. It tracks a wide range of targets from highly maneuverable low-flying tactical aircraft to unconventional smaller targets such as UAVs, ensuring an excellent wide-area air picture. The GM 400 can be set up in one hour. When deployed on site, the GM 400 radar can be connected to operate as part of a networked air defense organization and can be controlled from a remote location. The GM 400 can also be associated with different secondary radars that provide air traffic control capabilities, and that can also integrate Tactical Ballistic Missiles detection and tracking capabilities.
Mobility
The Ground Master 400 radar container can be mounted on a 6x6 or 8x8 tactical truck or trailer. It can be transported by a single C-130 military transport aircraft or a helicopter.
Main Features
The Ground Master GM 400 is a fully digital solid-state S-band mobile 3-D long-range air defense radar with high operational availability and highly simplified maintenance. The whole system is adaptable to towers and platforms with a radome option. The Ground master 400 radar is capable of detecting targets at low, medium and high altitudes with an unprecedented level of availability and mobility, the radar can spot a fighter aircraft at 450 km (243Nm and cruise missiles or small aircraft at 250 km. The radar features electronic stabilization between -6 and +5 degrees.
