GO12 Man-Pack Radar for Mountain Troop Excellence

Control the heights, dominate the valleys
 

21st century land warfare highly depends on the use of modern technology. Stand-off attacks with highly precise indirect fire assets and drone strikes have proven to be highly efficient against all kinds of targets. The efficient deployment of highly mobile troops in forward positions to obtain a far more accurate and real-time operational picture and coordinate precision fire missions is key to maintaining control of decisive battles. Given the true combat value of such special troops, state of the art equipment is key to their mission’s success.

Navigating rugged, hardly accessible areas of mountainous terrains in all weather conditions presents its own unique set of challenges for mountain troops. Often, these troops have no other choice but to deploy light, taking into account that they need to be self-sufficient as they may be cut-off from supplies for days. These units must cope with rapidly changing, extreme weather conditions, steep inclines, and the challenge of obscured visibility that can hinder operations. Having to gather accurate information on the type, size and movements of enemy detachments, coordinating indirect fire attacks and maintaining control over this challenging battlefield requires unique capabilities in usually harsh conditions.

With many decades of experience in developing cutting-edge ground surveillance radars, Thales provides todays’ mountain troops with a combat-proven surveillance, stand-off target acquisition, classification and indirect fire adjustment solution to help them accomplish their mission. The Ground Observer 12 – Tactical Ground Surveillance Radar is the lightest, most compact man-pack radar of its class. With only 16,7 kg weight and 28 L volume, its shoulder-width radar sensor can be carried in a back-pack leaving sufficient weight reserves and room to take another 20-25 kg of essential kit, water, food and ammunition into combat. Due to the extremely low sensor power demand of 70W, the GO12 can operate autonomously using light, compact 24V MOTS batteries in forward positions for days.

Figure 1: GO12 sensor with 110L infantry backpack (comparison example) – Battery set for > 6 hours operation

GO12 Radar’s Performance in Operation Bharkane

 
While being deployed by the French Army in “Operation Bharkane”, Mali (2019-2022) the GO12 Tactical Ground Surveillance Radar was permanently exposed to extreme conditions of the A1 climate zone with temperatures of up to 43°C and daily temperature drops of up to 15°C. The new man-pack radar quickly became an extremely valuable target acquisition and indirect fire adjustment asset, significantly enhancing the precision and lethality of the French infantry, cavalry, mortar and artillery units.

 While the GO12 was very useful in the dynamic phases of a combat operation, it was equally helpful in providing force protection after setting up a temporary forward observation base for the night as stated by its operators: “If there's a threat to the camp, I'll sound the alarm long before the danger arrives”. GO12 also provided highly agile perimeter and flank protection for the permanent Combat Outposts Kidal, Tessalit, Menaka and Gossi, during convoy movements and special operations.  

The Versatile GO12 Man-Pack Radar Revolutionizing Modern Warfare

In August 2022, Ukraine received a batch of eight GO12 Ground Surveillance Radars. Given the combat proven effectiveness of the GO12 on the battlefield, more than 82 GO12 have been deployed by now.  At the frontline, GO12 is demonstrably being field-used to support counter-battery operations, which is just one of the additional new features discovered during combat use, turning the GO12 into a highly versatile asset for forward-deployed troops.

As Ukraine sources state, this highly versatile Thales radar is literally being used in all areas of the battlefield. One of the main GO12 tasks for Ukrainian territorial defense is to give a timely warning of an enemy attack and to ensure that it is countered accordingly. It collects combat data on the enemy and transmits this information to the own unit’s command posts and their higher echelons. It is also used to adjust own artillery fire during counter-battery combat.  As the frontline is full of electronic warfare systems trying to locate Ukrainian radar positions, the GO12 is operated in Agile Frequency Mode to disguise its electronic signature. In this mode, the system conducts random frequency hopping using far more than 20 channels while transmitting.

Being equipped with this highly versatile Tactical Ground Surveillance Radar, small and highly mobile reconnaissance and forward observer teams deployed in elevated, remote positions can play a pivotal role in the outcome of mountain warfare and can successfully control the heights and dominate the valleys.