RP-5

Description

The RP-5 is a Soviet airborne target detection and tracking radar. In game it is found fitted to the MiG-19PT.

Vehicles equipped with this radar

• MiG-19PT

General info / usage

The RP-5 is unique among airborne radars in the game, in that it incorporates scanning and tracking capability into a single radar (other aircraft with target tracking use two separate radars). The search radar has fairly poor range, but decent overall scanning angles; the tracking radar has favourable range characteristics, but very poor tracking angles.

Search Characteristics
Maximum Detection Range	Guaranteed Detection Range	Minimum Detection Range	Range Settings
12,000 m	8,000 m	300 m	12 km
Search Modes
Search Mode	Azimuth Scan Angle	Elevation Scan Angle	Scan Time
Default	±60°	±40°	1.30 s
Tracking Characteristics
Maximum Tracking Range	Minimum Tracking Range	Azimuth Tracking Angle	Elevation Tracking Angle
4,500 m	100 m	±7°	±7°

Comparison with analogues

With the exception of the German Lichtenstein radars (FuG 202 & FuG 220) the RP-5 has the worst range of any airborne search radars, at only 12 km; slightly less than that of the AI Mk. X (14 km) and much less than the AN/APS-21 (45 km). Although somewhat lacking in maximum range the RP-5 does have much better minimum range than the AN/APS-21 (300 m compared to 1,000 m). The azimuth scanning angles of the RP-5 are also somewhat lackluster at 60° to each side (again worse than the other two radars), however it has very good elevation scan angles of 40° (much better than the 16° found on the AN/APS-21).

The tracking component of the RP-5 is again somewhat lackluster compared to the AN/APG-26 (the only other tracking radar in the game). It does have slightly better minimum and maximum ranges than the AN/APG-26, but for these small bonuses you pay a hefty price in terms of scan angles. The azimuth and elevation can angles are both only ±7°, which is vastly inferior to the ±60° of the AN/APG-26.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Is both a target detection and tracking radar
• Search radar
  • OK minimum range
  • Decent azimuth scanning angles
  • Very good elevation scanning angles
  • Reasonably quick scanning time
• Tracking radar
  • Good maximum range
  • Good minimum range

Cons:

• Search radar
  • Poor maximum range
  • Although azimuth scanning angles are decent they still fall behind those of the AI Mk. X and AN/APS-21
• Tracking radar
  • Extremely bad tracking angles

History

The RP-5 "Izumrud" radar is an improved version of the RP-1 "Izumrud" radar fitted to the early production MiG-19s. It was one of the first radars to feature Track-While-Scan (TWS) capability (allowing a target to be tracked while the radar continued scanning the area); doing so by using two separate antennas.

Media

An excellent addition to the article would be a video guide, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

• Airborne Radars
• AN/APS-21
• AN/APG-26

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on weapon;
• other literature.