Electronic Weapons: Hummers With Airborne Radars

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October 26, 2011: At the request of the U.S. Army, a defense manufacturer adapted jet fighter AESA radar to operate on a moving vehicle. This was named HAMMR (Highly Adaptable Multi-Mission Radar), which is nothing more than the AESA radar mounted in the back of a hummer vehicle. The radar can operate while the vehicle is moving, providing 360 degree radar monitoring for aircraft, as well as mortar, rocket or artillery fire.

Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar systems consist of thousands of tiny radars that can be independently aimed in different directions. AESA type radars have been around a long time, popular mainly for their ability deal with lots of targets simultaneously. In the last decade, new American jet fighters have had AESA installed, and many older ones were upgraded with AESA.

The army has used air force technologies before, most notably air-to-air missiles (Sidewinder and AMRAAM) fired from launchers on ground vehicles. Some air force communications gear has also been adapted for use by ground forces.