Terra Systems Detailed

[ismember]The TERRA system was developed and produced by ELTA Systems Ltd., IAI’s Subsidiary, in three years. The first system is already operational abroad with the launch customer, follow-on systems expected for delivery in the upcoming months. The Terra, and specifically the Spectra, are positioned as the next generation of the ELM-2080 Green Pine L-band radar, developed in the mid-1990s for the Israeli Arrow II missile defense system. The ELM-2090S provides the enhanced performance and fire control functionality necessary to support the future Arrow-3 extended missile defense system, designed to intercept enemy missiles in space.

Terra is comprised of the ULTRA UHF band early warning radar (ELM-2090U) and the new ELM-2090S SPECTRA S-band very-long-range search and track radar. The two radar types, available in several formats, employ advanced digital beam forming through Active Electronic Scan Arrays. Ultra can be deployed in a single, or six- and up to 22-cluster configurations (the largest weighs over 300 tons), offering very wide and flexible spatial coverage. Each cluster measures about 2.7 by three meters. Spectra is available in land-mobile relocatable ground-based based (a 15 m’ long by 9 m’ high system, weighing 180 tons) or shipborne configurations. The ship-based system also uses slewing configuration, automatically compensating for the wave motion by electronic beam steering.

The Ultra radar comprises multiple modules or ‘clusters.’ The largest one (C22) moves on rails, slewing sideways to cover an arc of 320 degrees, 70 degrees in elevation. The Spectra also slews over 320 degrees, but its elevation coverage is extendible to 90 degrees. The system can autonomously detect and simultaneously track dozens of ballistic missiles, as well as satellites and other airborne targets at very long ranges Automatic mutual cueing between Ultra and Spectra radars enables instant target acquisition and handover, optimizing resource management, multi-target load handling.

What differentiates TERRA’s enhanced performance from that of individual radars is the synchronization and automatic handover of tasks between specific modules of the radars, improving the system’s target load sharing. Using multiple radars also provides for redundancy between the two systems, in case of technical failure or combat damage.

The association of multiple Terra sites, combined with the system’s Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM), rapid relocation, ship-borne operation (Spectra) and severe-weather resilience, also extends the system’s resilience beyond similar stationary systems.

[/ismember]The new SPECTRA Active Electronic Scanned Array (AESA) radar can also perform as a stand-alone system. Spectra is a transportable ground-based or ship-borne radar system designed to autonomously detect and simultaneously track multiple tactical ballistic missiles.

SPECTRA provides high-accuracy target tracking and real-time launch point and impact point estimations.

The Spectra radar is built upon thousands of thumb-sized high-power GaN digital transmit-receive mobiles, supporting AESA radar technology modules that provide high efficiency, reliability and graceful degradation.
[nonmember]This article includes 517 of 897 words of the original version. For the more detailed version of the Terra article, please subscribe.[/nonmember]

ELM-2090S S-Band Spectra radar provides early warning and high resolution tracking of ballistic missiles, air breathing targets and space objects. Photo: IAI,
ELM-2090S S-Band Spectra radar provides early warning and high resolution tracking of ballistic missiles, air breathing targets and space objects. Photo: IAI,