This product offers the AN/MRQ-49 radar in deployed and travelling configurations. The radar with its control cabin was mounted on the Gama Goat to give it a high measure of deployability, and it was widely used by US forces in conjunction with the Chaparral, Vulcan and Redeye air-defence weapons. This radar was mounted on a boom extending from the Gama Goat’s trailer. It is a pulse doppler radar operating in D band, with a range of around 20km. Data from the radar was transmitted by FM radio to a ‘Target Alerting Data Display Set’ (TADDS), a small hand-held receiver and display unit held close to the weapons. It provided cueing to permit local operators of the guns/missiles to search visually and point their weapons to the designated sector.
The product contains several parts to permit the printing of the FAAR in deployed or travelling configuration. The towing unit is the front half of a Gama Goat, which is provided with separate wheels. A windscreen is provided for this element, and a separate steering wheel as this would not print successfully when integrated into the unit. The trailer half of the Gama Goat is provided in two separate configurations, one with the stabilising jacks deployed and one with them retracted for transport. The same wheels should be used for this component. The radar cabin is similarly provided in the two configurations to simplify printing, permitting the radar to be modelled in deployed or retracted and stowed configuration.
The radar and its mast are depicted in raised and retracted/stowed forms. The deployed (extended) mast is a separate component, with the radar head and rear ‘sail’ also being separate to ease printing, but easily glued to the mast. The completed radar assembly should then be glued to the section of the mast that is on the rear of the appropriate cabin. The retracted mast should be mounted across the top of the other cabin (with the feed antenna horn on the roof). The separate radar dish should also be glued on top of the engine of the Gama Goat for transport.
The Gama Goat tows a separate M101A1 trailer to carry the required generator, cables and other equipment. This is also provided in this product. The body and chassis are separate parts to ease printing on FDM printers. A version is provided without the generator, and a separate generator unit is included to permit more realistic firing arrangements. Separate wheels are provided, somewhat smaller than those used on the Gama Goat.
The FAAR, when coupled with the Chaparral system already available on this site (and Vulcan available elsewhere) should permit wargamers to include air defence aspects in modern wargames.
The product is offered for personal, non-commercial use under the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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