AN/APS-19
Contents
Description
The AN/APS-19 is an American airborne target detection (search) radar with tracking capabilities. In game, it is found on the A2D-1.
Vehicles equipped with this radar
General info / usage
The AN/APS-19 is primarily a target detection radar however it does have a limited tracking capability. The radar has a theoretical maximum detection range of 60 km, however in reality air targets will always only be detected at much shorter distances (historically at long ranges the radar was mainly used to detect land masses).
Like the AN/APS-6, the AN/APS-19 operates in a "Spiral Scan" search pattern, where the radar dish spins rapidly, scanning the area in front of the aircraft following a spiral path (see image to the right). As a result of this, the radar appears to spin very rapidly on the radar display, however targets are not updated on every pass as the radar is pointing at a different angle on each pass. Likewise, depending on whether the radar is pointing towards the outside of the spiral or towards the centre, the effect of ground clutter is different, making it appear to "pulse" on the radar display.
The radar can lock on to and track targets within a narrow cone out to a maximum range of 1.5 km; however in order to do this the radar must cease scanning. This function mimics the gun aiming mode found on the real radar.
| Search Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum Detection Range |
Guaranteed Detection Range |
Minimum Detection Range |
Range Settings |
| 60,000 m | 7,200 m | 1,000 m | 3 km, 14 km, 37 km, 92 km |
| Search Modes | |||
| Search Mode | Azimuth Scan Angle |
Elevation Scan Angle |
Scan Time |
| Default | ±67.5° | ±67.5° | 1.52 s (Spiral Scan) |
| Narrow | ±15° | ±15° | 0.1 s (Spiral Scan) |
| Tracking Characteristics | |||
| Maximum Tracking Range |
Minimum Tracking Range |
Azimuth Tracking Angle |
Elevation Tracking Angle |
| 1,500 m | 150 m | ±15° | ±15° |
Comparison with analogues
Much like the AN/APS-6, when compared to other wartime radars the AN/APS-19 has good scanning angles (slightly better than the AN/APS-6) and an OK range (same as the AN/APS-6). Compared to the AN/APG-26 the tracking angles of the AN/APS-19 are poor, although better than those on the RP-5. The tracking range is far inferior to both the AN/APG-26 and RP-5, but slightly better than the AN/APS-6.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Decent range
- Can track targets
- Good horizontal scanning angles and very good vertical scanning angles
Cons:
- Inferior range and scanning angles to some high tier radars
- Tracking capability is limited
- Suffers very heavily from ground clutter
History
The AN/APS-19 was developped by the Sperry Corporation to be a lighter and more capable replacement for the AN/APS-4 and AN/APS-6 radars. The radar retained the spiral scan pattern and gun aiming modes of the AN/APS-6, but with a higher power output to increase range. The radar was also able to function in sweep-scan mode (where the radar sweeps side to side, like the AN/APS-21), retaining the functionality of the AN/APS-4 radar, but with better scanning angles. The radar was phased into service, starting in late 1946, gradually replacing AN/APS-4 and AN/APS-6 radars on naval aircraft.
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
- A2D-1
- AN/APS-6 (a very similar radar)
