Radar systems help GIs return fire

The Stars and Stripes ^ | Sunday, November 23, 2003 | Franklin Fischer

[demlosers]

BAGHDAD, Iraq — On a cool Wednesday night in Baghdad, with the stars bright overhead, Pfc. Ernie Ritacca sits in his mobile radar van, the door open, waiting for signs of “The Mad Mortarman.”

Ritacca, 19, of Bullhead, Ariz., is with the 1st Armored Division’s Battery D, 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment. His van and a few other vehicles are tucked behind an earthen embankment near the flightline of Baghdad International Airport.

“The Mad Mortarman” is the nickname some in his unit use for the faceless Iraqi insurgents who have been keeping a steady routine of hit-and-run attacks on the U.S.-led coalition here.

U.S. brass grew so fed up with the attacks that they moved to discourage them by launching Operation Iron Hammer on Nov. 12. They try to learn where the attackers are, then hit them on the spot with artillery, airstrikes, ground troops or some combination of means.

Ritacca operates a radar called the Firefinder, which can do something that might well astonish veterans of Vietnam or earlier wars: It can detect the firing of an enemy mortar, rocket or artillery round, pinpoint its map location, predict where it will land, and even offer a guess as to what type of weapon is involved, all within mere seconds.

“In Iraq, he’s referred to as ‘The Mad Mortarman,’ ” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Hipolito Medina, 30, of Bayamon, Puerto Rico, a radar section leader in Battery D.

“One minute he’s there, next minute he’s gone,” he said. “So I think with the radar, we’ll be able to at least give them acquisitions and be able to put rounds downrange.”

“Less than five minutes are needed before you hit the bad guys,” from the time Firefinder detects a launch, “and that has happened here already,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Frederick Theobald, 37, of Fairmont, Minn., a division counterfire officer with Battery D.

For those reasons, said artillery officers within Ritacca’s unit, the Firefinder has played a valued role in the Iraq conflict, in the Persian Gulf War, and, over the past week, in Iron Hammer.

“We provide the acquisitions for the common mortar fight, which is a big part of Iron Hammer,” Theobald said.

“Particularly in this environment … the mortars are firing, the radars can home in on them and that’s important to the people who are actually out there on the streets … doing the patrolling, doing the checkpoints. These are the people that will be targeted,” said Battery D’s commander, Capt. Michael Wood, 37, of Pascagoula, Miss.

The Firefinder sends out a continual signal that creates an electronic “search fence” in the air. If, for example, a mortar were fired, its round would have to pass through that fence and would thus be caught in the Firefinder’s web.

The Firefinder would track the upward arc of the round’s trajectory and run through its set of high-speed calculations.

And on the dark scope to Ritacca’s right, a block of lime-green text would appear, with information including target number, the time the Firefinder picked it up, and other details.

The operator hits a button and the information goes straight to the division’s leadership, who then decides what, if any, countermeasures to take.

On Wednesday morning, for example, at about half past midnight, one of the radar sections picked up an 82 mm mortar launch, and within minutes the division was ready for orders to shell the launch location with 105 mm howitzers, said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Manny Vasquez, 33, of New York City, a division counterfire officer working in the division artillery’s tactical operations center.

“We cleared our airspace, had the guns laid. … The only thing we were waiting for was for brigade to clear fires,” he said. “The brigade made the decision not to … because this was in a populated area.”

Though the commander opted not to fire in that case, that doesn’t mean commanders won’t in other instances, artillery officers said.

“The rules of engagement are specific,” said Theobald. “If American casualties are being taken, we can fire anywhere we want.”

Ritacca works a Firefinder variant that is “optimized” for detecting mortar fire. In another van a few yards away was Spc. Nathaniel Rumph, 23, of Rochester, N.Y., operating a Firefinder optimized for artillery and rockets.

Neither had heard of Iron Hammer. But both were heartened after being told what it involves and of the role they’re playing within the confines of their vans.

“Wanna know the truth?” said Rumph. “It’s about time.”

“It makes me feel good,” said Ritacca, “when I hear on the radio that they counterfired on one of the targets I processed. ’Cause it’s one less bad guy out there.”

[demlosers]

Franklin Fisher / S&S
Spc. Nathaniel Rumph, a radar repairman with the 1st
Armored Division, pulls maintenance on a portion of
the Firefinder radar system at Baghdad
International Airport in Iraq.

[LibWhacker]

DAMMIT!, I wish they wouldn't talk about it ahead of time. The bastards will just start firing their mortars, etc., remotely. I know the existence of these countermeasures is well-known, but we're projecting something terrible here. Just keep our mouths shut and we could at least get this one guy -- and probably dozens of others, until the other side catches on to what we're doing.

[Prodigal Son]

We had one of these things set up outside our position in Bosnia. Operated by the Indiana National Guard so it was. One thing that irked me about it though- the operator would often claim that a round had just been fired from say the opposing hilltop when there had been no round fired at all. Hopefully, they have improved on that particular glitch.

[theDentist]

“The brigade made the decision not to (fire)… because this was in a populated area.”

I'm betting that's where 95% of these attacks will be commensed from, becuase they know we don't want to blow up civilians. Bad P.R.

[nerdwithamachinegun]

We're not projecting. They know exactly what we're using against them but they can't help wanting to try to hit us. It's also more than one guy. I'm on the receiving end of some of that mortar fire and it's good to see this in the news.

Iron hammer has been a success so far. It's a shame that things had to get as bad as they did before Iron Hammer was kicked off.

[LibWhacker]

I'm on the receiving end of some of that mortar fire and it's good to see this in the news.

Thanks for the input, neardwithamachinegun! May you and all your buddies come home safe and sound. You're one of our heroes, there's no doubt about that. I'm for ANYTHING that'll keep our troops safe. Call me Truman times one thousand. Let us know if this disclosure actually results in fewer attacks. I just think in general the enemy can adapt quickly and it's not a good idea to give him a heads-up about what we're doing. But I certainly understand that any respite -- even if it's a temporary one -- is a good thing from your point of view. God bless you.

[nerdwithamachinegun]

I'm no hero. I'm a dirtbag contractor. I do computer stuff at the CPA Palace. My Army days are over. The real heros are the guys out there in uniform, the ones standing eight hours of guard on a checkpoint or gate and the ones patroling and keeping in touch with the locals. I'm living in comparative luxury.

They're already adapting by using Katyusha rockets on carts pulled by donkeys. If a competent mortar crew ever made their way to Baghdad, I'd be on the first thing smoking out of here.

They don't need to know that it's radar or see it on a news site to know that when they fire we're on them like white on rice. They know they've been made when they shoot and scoot and we're STILL on them.

I walk almost a mile to my quarters from the palace. If I don't see kids in the street I get a move on and listen for the crumping noises. I heard outgoing a few nights ago. It sounded great! That night I got to see an Apache fire its chain gun on something too. Three quick rounds and about a minute later there was a fire. Good stuff. We joke about taking lawn chairs and beer to the roof to our ringside seat for the ass whooping that 1AD is dishing out.


We're not even close to the Loose Lips limit in my opinion. You should see the footage shown on al Arabya and al Jazeera. THAT'S the bad stuff. It's no lie that al Jazeera was showing up before some of the first IED attacks. Those guys claim to be impartial. BS I say.

[LibWhacker]

I'm a dirtbag contractor.

Around here we call them boa contractors. Or general constrictors. God bless 'ya anyway! :-)

[Darksheare]

Hey!
That thing looks familiar!
My unit had to babysit one of those at our last AT.
We called it the "Icon of God" since the OpFor always made straight for it like lemmings.
Whatever unit was 'lucky' enough to get saddled with it always suffered constant OpFor harrassment during AT.

If you're unlucky enough to be in front of it when they turn it on, your watch dies.

[DeathAngel]

I believe you once inquired about anti-sniper systems.

[BluH2o]

“We cleared our airspace, had the guns laid. … The only thing we were waiting for was for brigade to clear fires,” he said. “The brigade made the decision not to … because this was in a populated area.”

Well, guess where most enemy mortar rounds will originate from this point forward ... nice that we make our defensive strategy so clear.

[q_an_a]

if you start telling people that if mortars are fired from the roof of a building, the building will come down, then you have the PEOPLE doing the policing. it is TIME for the iraqi to take control of finding the bad guys and stopping them.

[theDentist]

They should, but they are still so frightened of Saddam returning to power (and being turned in by anyone) that very few are taking the chance until we have his head on a pike.

[PISANO]

the division’s leadership, who then decides what, if any, countermeasures to take

This is the WEAK link. If one has to get BRIGADE permission to counter attack, too much time is lost. Should be an ONSITE tactical decision. IMHO.

[DeepDish]

“We cleared our airspace, had the guns laid. … The only thing we were waiting for was for brigade to clear fires,” he said. “The brigade made the decision not to … because this was in a populated area.”

I can smell Vietnam from here. I understand that the Vietnamese moved their anti-aircraft sites to the tops of the levees that protected Hanoi when they realized that the Washington people did not want the flack from possble flooding and civilian casualties.

I may be making some poor assumptions here but if you are taking mortar fire you can also dish it out. I heard about development efforts to put gps guidance on mortar rounds. If this is true, then why not directly slave mortars to the fire finder radar. This would reduce response time to seconds.

The problem of deciding whether or not to return fire is a political decision and it should not be so.

[archy]

Ritacca operates a radar called the Firefinder, which can do something that might well astonish veterans of Vietnam or earlier wars: It can detect the firing of an enemy mortar, rocket or artillery round, pinpoint its map location, predict where it will land, and even offer a guess as to what type of weapon is involved, all within mere seconds.

Not those that worked with AN/PPS 4 or 5 ground surveillance radars, nor with the TPS/33. Their Doppler radars weren't quite as sophisticated at identifying the location from which a mortar oir rocket was launched, but the operators generally had some idea of the most likely locations for such sites. And once their equipment identified rounds on the way, those teams could have preplanned artillery fire missions on the way before the projectiles even landed, up to and including 175mm gun rounds.

Too bad they cancelled the Crusader, which could have been *plugged into* with Firefinder data to fire the missions automatically upon receiving Firefinder's digital information. Inserting higher command into the loop sets us back 35 years.

-archy-/-

[Darksheare]

Set us back.. more like KNOCKED backwards.
*chuckle*
The radar set itself looks extremely similar to the one the radar unit we babysat used.
I was one of a few who were standing in front of it when it was turned on prematurely.
They weren't supposed to go hot for a few more minutes according to the mission plan. Advanced Party was having a short briefing in front of the radar set where we weren't in anyone's current way, while it was safe. The honest first sign of a problem was my watch beeping suddenly and stopping, and shouting to our left. And some warmth.
*snort*

[archy]

Okay, war story time. When stationed on the 5KM border strip with East Germany/Czechoslovokia, circa 1967, how do you heat coffee or sausages from the local ville, since open fires are a no-no. Answer: AN-PPS-4 radar set, about two minutes worth, from about 25 meters. Coffee in a glass pitcher or thermos [NOT a metal canteen!] bubbles merrily after a couple of minutes of such microwave hosing, meant to send out a signal and return to 8,000 meters-plus. After 5 minutes or so sausages begin to split open and their grease catches fire; too much of a good thing.

And when you come off this swell duty and return to your base kaserne and find that the usually reasonable company commander is on leave, and the West Point ist Lieutenant XO is running things the way he always wanted to, with motor pool inspections of equipment on Saturday afternoon instead of the usual passes, what do ya suppose happens next?

Yep all the automotive and vehicular equipment is set up and run; all the vehicles, and including the generators for the radar sets. And that power output has to go somewhere.

Once the nicads were recharged, that meant pulling the radars out of their transit chests and firing them up. And when the little banty rooster with the shiny silver bar jumped up atop the back deck of an M60A1 tank, waving a dipstick for his substitute saber, four Pipsy-fours range-gated right through him, against the turret of the tank, and back out again. So did our two Tipsy 33s, with a 35KM range. For, oh, about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes.

And next weekend, we played that same game again, just as ordered.

Happily, by the third weekend, our real C.O. was back and put an end to the silly chickenstuff. That didn't help his XO, though, who by then was having problems with hair coming out in handfulls whenever he's take his hat off, and had to schedule a couple of dental appointments with the dental clinic, as he seemed to be suffering loosened teeth. I doubt he lasted six months after that.

-archy-/-

[Travis McGee]

You can bet the terrorist enemy will fire from the top of a clinic or school next.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

This must be the lively end of town, lol.

A lurking member of the armed forces couldn't cause trouble for either of you, could he? Say, an Army intel officer who 'yelled' at Jim Robinson last week for something I posted last Sept. (and which may end up hurting the letter-writer)? Of course, the Army probably wouldn't find your post 'til January.

I'd ordinarily ping my list, but am unsure whether that would provide witnesses for the prosecution, or allies willing to contact the bosses of offended military officials on your behalf.

(~;