Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System
Encyclopedia
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
on it F/A-18D Hornet aircraft. It consists of the Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System (ATARS) with infrared and visible light sensors, two digital tape recorders, and a Reconnaissance Management System (RMS); an interface with the APG-73 Radar Upgrade (Phase II) which records synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar is a form of radar whose defining characteristic is its use of relative motion between an antenna and its target region to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations that are exploited to obtain finer spatial resolution than is possible with conventional...
(SAR) imagery; and a digital data link mounted in a centerline pod. ATARS fits in the nose in place of the nose gun, with a small datalink pod mounted on the centerline station. The digital data link will transmit imagery and auxiliary data to any Common Imaging Ground/Surface Station (CIG/SS) compatible system including the Joint Services Imagery Processing System (JSIPS) or Marine Tactical Exploitation Group (TEG) based ashore and Navy JSIPS (JSIPS-N) aboard ship.
Operational Use
Each of the six U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18D squadrons have three ATARS aircraft, giving a total of 18 ATARS equipped aircraft altogether. The first operational use of ATARS equipped aircraft occurred in February 2000 when MCAS Beaufort based VMFA(AW)-332VMFA(AW)-332
Marine All Weather Fighter Attack Squadron 332 is a United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet squadron. Also known as the "Moonlighters", the squadron is based at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina and is attached to Marine Aircraft Group 31 , 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing . The squadron...
deployed to Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in Operation Allied Force
Operation Allied Force
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
. ATARS is a considerable advance in capability on the Marines old RF-4B/C
F-4 Phantom II
The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II is a tandem two-seat, twin-engined, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor fighter/fighter-bomber originally developed for the United States Navy by McDonnell Aircraft. It first entered service in 1960 with the U.S. Navy. Proving highly adaptable,...
aircraft.
Other uses
ATARS also is the acronym for an unrelated Air ForceUnited States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
program, Aircrew Training and Rehearsal Support. The ATARS program acquires, sustains and supports mission qualification training and rehearsal system hardware, software and courseware (to include instructors) for Air Force Special Operations Forces (AFSOF), Combat Search and rescue (CSAR) and UH-1 operations. Weapon systems include the MH-53J/M, UH-1N, HH-60G, CV-22, MC-130E/H/P, AC-130H/U, HC-130P/N, and EC-130J.