Army and Weapons | AN/TPQ-36 Firefinding Radar High-Mobility Weapon | AN/TPQ-36 Firefinding Radar High-Mobility Weapon Locating Radar System The AN/TPQ-36 Fire finder radar system is used to locate the origin of enemy fire - be it artillery or mortar. The system is a relatively light-weight battlefield component that can detect enemy launches from within a pre-selected 90-degree azimuth sector at any angle, in essence offering up 360-degrees of coverage (through manual positioning). The system can center in on staggered voluminous fire as well as artillery fired simultaneously.
The radar system tracks a 90-degree sector for incoming aerial threats. Once a recently launched target has been reported/acquired, the onboard computer can then pinpoint the relative point of origin of the launched munition based on its initial trajectory. From there, artillery commanders can direct counter-fire towards the suspected enemy position. The system is capable of tracking enemy (and friendly) mortar, artillery or rocket fire as needed. The effective tracking distance is just under 15 miles. The complicated designation breaks down as such: "AN" meaning Army/Navy(Marines); "T" representing the systems transportability; "P" representing its radar nature; "Q" for Special-Purpose/Multi-Purpose; "36" for the units required numerical designation.