User:MoRsE/Radars

To do:
 * Cymberline
 * Watchman
 * Marconi gun laying radars of the 1950's
 * Aircraft radars, Draken, MiG-21, Hornet, Learjet, Do228, Helicopters (Mi-8, SuperPuma, NH-90)
 * Ericsson Microwave Systems Hard-3D: ItO 2005 pystyy toimimaan itsenäisesti kaikissa valaistusolosuhteissa. Järjestelmän valvontatutka mahdollistaa maalin havaitsemisen jo 20 km etäisyydeltä. Tutka on ns ”kuiskaava” tutka (LPI-tutka), jonka vuoksi tutkaa on hyvin vaikea havaita nykyaikaisilla tiedusteluvastaanottimilla. Tutkaan on liitetty NATO yhteensopiva omakonetunnuslaite. Järjestelmä on myös liitetty ilmapuolustuksen tulenjohtoverkkoon tuliasemapäätteellä.
 * Navy ship radars


 * Rauma Class: Sea Giraffe 150HC, C/X-dual band.
 * Ceros 200 K(J)-band monopulse tracker
 * Helsinki, Rauma, Pohjanmaa, 9GA209 antenna and 9LV200 fire control system
 * Helsinki: 9LV225 Mk.2
 * Pohjanmaa: 9LV120/220 Mk.2
 * Rauma: 9LV225 Mk.3
 * Hamina: 9LV325 Mk.3E
 * Plessey AWS-5 Watchman (7 units) S-band, 240 km range


 * Coastal infantry radars.
 * Coastal surveillance radars.
 * Civil radars?

German radar operations in Finland during WW2
In the summer of 1942, the Germans informed their Finnish allies of their radar network in Northern Finland. The Germans operated 91 radar stations in Lapland.


 * 13. FlaK Brigade, lead by Generalmajor Wolfgang Freytag and HQ in Rovaniemi
 * Flak-Regiment 142 - Flakgruppe Lappland; Kolosjoki: one FuSE 62D and eight 62C
 * Flak-Regiment 181 - Flakgruppe Finnland; Kemijärvi: two FuSE 62D and five 62C
 * Flak-Regiment 229 - Flakgruppe Eismeer; Luostari: four FuSE 62D and three 62C
 * additionally there were 7 surveillance radars in Northern Finland and more stations were placed close to the Finnish border in northern Norway.

Luftgaukommando Finnland operated in the northern territory of Finland from August 1943 and onwards, and on 2 November 1943 it was given a new name Stab/Kommandierende General der Deutschen Luftwaffe in Finnland. These organizations were in charge of air surveillance, nightfighter management and signals operations.

The Germans generously offered not only radars, but their entire radar defence structure, and several officers and conscripts were trained in Germany to train on the system. Therefore the first Finnish radar system became a copy of the German structure, with long-range radars, gunlaying radars, command centers and all.

As the Soviets began their offensives in 1944, the Germans concentrated night fighters units in Helsinki and Tallinn. A German night fighter guidance ship, the Togo, also sailed in the Gulf of Finland in 1944. Several German radar units were also stationed in Estonia.

Soviet radar operations in Finland during WW2
The Soviets had at least one radar station on the island of Lavansaari in the Gulf of Finland.

Finnish Radar operations
In the immediate aftermath of WW2, Finland had to lean on its remaining, operational radars. These were all of German origin, few in numbers, and spares were increasingly difficult to come by, as production had ceased with Germany's defeat. Some spares were found through cannibalization of units and the German designs were somewhat improved during the late 1940-ies by implementing US tube technology. This technology had to be smuggled via Denmark as there were export restrictions in place. The Finnish economy was also strained due to rebuilding efforts and war compensations and there were not much money for the defence forces.

With deteriorating US-Soviet relations and the start of the Cold War in 1947 the Soviet Union became the target of several US (and British) intelligence gathering flights. These flights often utilized the Finnish air space, as the Finns had virtually no possibility to detect or intercept the aircraft.

The infuriated Soviets, who feared that the US had found an easy way to fly its nuke-armed bombers into to Soviet airspace, demanded that Finland immediately should take steps to improve its air defence and threatened to take over the air defence of Finland if things were not corrected. The Finns quickly drew up plans to construct a modern network of radars, began planning to buy modern jet fighters and intended to pave at least one air strip at all the major airfields (12 in all), in order to allow modern aircraft to take off and land. Modern radars were listed first on the priority list of the Finnish Defence Force. The Soviets were said to plan the installation of 40-50 radar stations, about 700 observation posts and 15-20,000 men in Finland - effectively destroying Finland's status as a neutral country.

However, there were som obstacles. The 13th paragraph of the 1947 Paris Peace Agreement had stipulated limitations in numbers of aircraft that the Finns were allowed to use, as well as missile weaponry and its origins - and thus also affecting associated and independent radar systems, and modern US or British radars were still not sold to Finland. Therefore a decision was made to try to build a domestic radar system from scratch, implementing experience gained from repairing and maintaining the German radars.

Some older US systems were however released for sale (such as the maritime surveillance radar SM-1 and the airspace surveillance radar TN/TPS-1E) and these were purchased in small numbers in the late 40-ies and early 50-ies, as stop-gap measures. Surface to Air missiles systems were still not allowed until the Note Crisis in 1968, and still there were no money for such systems for another decade.

Fortunately for the project, Finland had a very talented electronics engineer in DI Jouko Pohjanpalo. In the early 1950-ies, he designed and supervised the construction of the successful and innovative Finnish VRRTI/VRRTY radar network that was to be operational into the 1990-ies, and with constant modernization the system was even superseding newer designs in operational life.