- AN/SPG-59
Infobox Radar
name = AN/SPG-59
country =United States
introdate = Canceled 1963
number = 1
type = 3D Air-search and tracking
frequency =
range = 110 nm Maximum
altitude =
diameter =
azimuth = 0 to 360º
elevation =
precision =
power =The AN/SPG-59 was an advanced
phased array radar developed by theU.S. Navy starting in 1958. It was intended to offer search, track and guidance from a single radar system and antenna. Paired with the new Typhon missile, the system was to provide wide-area air defense out to about 110 nm from suitable anti-aircraftcruiser s. Both the radar and missile proved to be well beyond thestate of the art of the era, and the project was eventually canceled in December 1963.Dranidis, Dimitris V. " [http://www.harpoonhq.com/waypoint/articles/Article_044.pdf Shipboard Phased-Array Radars] ". Waypoint Magazine. February 2003. (Written to support wargames, but informative.)]The Typhon Combat System
The Typhon/SPG-59 started as a response to the introduction of sea-skimming
anti-ship missile s into service withSoviet Naval Aviation groups. First-generation missile systems like Talos and Terrier used a combination ofbeam riding andsemi-active radar homing (SARH) that required a special targeting radar to illuminate the target through the entire interception. Typical installations included either two or four such illumination radars, which limited the number of simultaneous interceptions. Facing volleys of missiles such systems could easily be overwhelmed. Adding additional radars was possible, but difficult to arrange as the radars were fairly large and required a clear view of the sky, limiting the number of suitable locations. This led to a "specification convergence"; since there could only be a small number of radars, the missile receivers were built to tune in only a small number of potential "channels". That meant that increasing the number of radars would also require the missiles to be updated as well.ystem Characteristics
The AN/SPG-59 avoided this problem by acting as both the search and illumination radar. That reduced the problem of siting, as there needed to be only one radar on the ship, albeit a very large one. The Typhon missiles also helped solve this problem, switching from SARH tracking to track-via-missile. In this system the receiver on the missile is a wide-band receiver, and forwards its received signals back to the ship. The ship's on-board computers then calculate the interception coarse and forward it back to the missile from an omni-directional antenna. This is similar to the older
command guidance system, but avoids the inaccuracies of that system by locating the receiver on the missile, which is closer to the target and therefore sees a stronger signal. Although this system required the missiles to be able to tune in a number of command radio channels, these are generally much simpler and smaller than radar receivers, allowing a much larger number of channels to be supported.Development Problems
The project ran into problems almost immediately. The phased array radar required a large number of individual broadcaster elements that proved to be unreliable and very expensive. Additionally, the power requirements of the system were so huge that only nuclear-powered ships could afford to operate the system. Although such ships were then under construction, they were politically controversial. As development dragged on, the system was eventually abandoned in December 1963.
Typhon Test Vessel
In November 1962 USS|Norton Sound|AVM-1 was towed to
Baltimore, Maryland for installation of the Typhon Weapon Control System, including the AN/SPG-59. The conversion was completed early in 1964, and "Norton Sound" was recommissioned20 June ,1964 to continue tasks in weapons research. Baltimore was designated homeport for Norton Sound, and for several months she operated inChesapeake Bay , evaluating the Typhon System. Assigned toPort Hueneme, California in July 1965, she arrived there the last day of that month. During a three month stay atLong Beach Naval Shipyard commencing15 July 1966 , all Typhon equipment was removed following discontinuance of the system. [United States Navy .Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships . [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/n6/norton_sound.htm Norton Sound] .]References
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