Type 704 Radar
Encyclopedia
The Type 704 is a counter battery radar by NORINCO
designed to accurately locate the hostile artillery, rocket and ground-to-ground missile launcher immediately after the firing of enemy, and support friendly artillery by providing guidance of counter fire. It was first displayed publicly in 1988's ASIADEX defence show.
: four AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
have been sold to China and this had become the foundation of SLC-2 radar development. Aside from political reasons, the US$ 10 million plus unit price tag of TPQ-37 (including after sale logistic support) was simply too costly for Chinese. Decision was made to develop a domestic equivalent after mastering the technologies of TPQ-37. After the initial test of TPQ-37 in Tangshan (汤山) Range near Nanjing
in 1988, and in Xuanhua District
in October of the same year, several shortcomings of TPQ-37 were discovered and further intensive tests were conducted and completed in 1994.
The requirement of the Chinese domestic equivalent was subsequently modified to address these issues revealed in trials. Due to the limitation of the Chinese industrial capability at the time, decision was made to develop the Chinese domestic equivalent in several steps. The first step was to develop a smaller one, which would result in the Chinese equivalent of AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar
, Type 704 series radar, and based on the experience gained from this program, a more capable larger version in the same class of AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
would be developed, which eventually resulted in SLC-2 series.
s. Developmental work of Type 704 begun in parallel with the introduction of AN/TPQ-37 radar into Chinese service, and the reported experience gained on the Chinese reverse engineering of TPQ-37 has influenced Type 704 radar.
One problem revealed in the tests was that the reliability of TPQ-37 is much lower than what was claimed. The reason was that when TPQ-37 was deployed in environments with high humidity and high level of rainfall (southern China), high salinity (coastal regions), high altitude (southwestern China), and subjected to daily high temperature differences (northwestern China), malfunctions occurs more frequently. Type 704 radar was designed specifically to improve the reliability against these harsh environmental factors.
One of the limitations of TPQ-37 revealed in tests was that the it was less effective against projectiles with flat trajectory, so it is much more effective against howitzer and mortar rounds than rounds from 130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46)
and its Chinese derivative Type 59-1. Type 704A radar is designed to overcome this shortcoming by improving the capability against rounds with flat trajectory.
Norinco
The China North Industries Corporation , official English name Norinco, manufactures vehicles , machinery, optical-electronic products, oil field equipment, chemicals, light industrial products, explosives and blast materials, civil and military firearms and ammunition, etc...
designed to accurately locate the hostile artillery, rocket and ground-to-ground missile launcher immediately after the firing of enemy, and support friendly artillery by providing guidance of counter fire. It was first displayed publicly in 1988's ASIADEX defence show.
Development
Type 704 radar shares the same root as its larger cousin, the SLC-2 RadarSLC-2 Radar
The SLC-2 Radar is a counter-battery radar designed to accurately locate hostile artillery, rocket and ground-to-ground missile launchers immediately after enemy firing, and to support friendly artillery by providing guidance of counter-fire....
: four AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder is a mobile radar system manufactured by ThalesRaytheonSystems . The system is a long-range version of “weapon-locating radar,” designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counterbattery fire...
have been sold to China and this had become the foundation of SLC-2 radar development. Aside from political reasons, the US$ 10 million plus unit price tag of TPQ-37 (including after sale logistic support) was simply too costly for Chinese. Decision was made to develop a domestic equivalent after mastering the technologies of TPQ-37. After the initial test of TPQ-37 in Tangshan (汤山) Range near Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
in 1988, and in Xuanhua District
Xuanhua District
Xuanhua is a district in Zhangjiakou prefecture-level city in Hebei Province, China.Xuanhua is 180 km North-West of Beijing. It has a population of 274,000 people. Xuanhua is a very old city with a rich military and agricultural history...
in October of the same year, several shortcomings of TPQ-37 were discovered and further intensive tests were conducted and completed in 1994.
The requirement of the Chinese domestic equivalent was subsequently modified to address these issues revealed in trials. Due to the limitation of the Chinese industrial capability at the time, decision was made to develop the Chinese domestic equivalent in several steps. The first step was to develop a smaller one, which would result in the Chinese equivalent of AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder is a mobile radar system manufactured by Northrop Grumman and ThalesRaytheonSystems . The system is a "weapon-locating radar", designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counterbattery fire...
, Type 704 series radar, and based on the experience gained from this program, a more capable larger version in the same class of AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder is a mobile radar system manufactured by ThalesRaytheonSystems . The system is a long-range version of “weapon-locating radar,” designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for counterbattery fire...
would be developed, which eventually resulted in SLC-2 series.
Type 704 Rdar
Type 704 is the first of the Type 704 series of counter-battery radarCounter-battery radar
A counter-battery radar detects artillery projectiles fired by one or more guns, howitzers, mortars and rocket launchers and from their trajectories locates the position on the ground of the gun, etc., that fired it. Alternatively, or in addition, it may determine where the projectile will land...
s. Developmental work of Type 704 begun in parallel with the introduction of AN/TPQ-37 radar into Chinese service, and the reported experience gained on the Chinese reverse engineering of TPQ-37 has influenced Type 704 radar.
One problem revealed in the tests was that the reliability of TPQ-37 is much lower than what was claimed. The reason was that when TPQ-37 was deployed in environments with high humidity and high level of rainfall (southern China), high salinity (coastal regions), high altitude (southwestern China), and subjected to daily high temperature differences (northwestern China), malfunctions occurs more frequently. Type 704 radar was designed specifically to improve the reliability against these harsh environmental factors.
Type 704A Radar
Type 704 is followed by its successor, Type 704A, which is fully solid state, fully digitized version, which further improved reliability and simplified logistics, and thus reduced the operational cost.One of the limitations of TPQ-37 revealed in tests was that the it was less effective against projectiles with flat trajectory, so it is much more effective against howitzer and mortar rounds than rounds from 130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46)
130 mm towed field gun M1954 (M-46)
The 130 mm towed field gun M-46 M1954 is a manually loaded, towed 130 mm artillery piece, manufactured in the Soviet Union in the 1950s. It was first observed by the west in 1954...
and its Chinese derivative Type 59-1. Type 704A radar is designed to overcome this shortcoming by improving the capability against rounds with flat trajectory.