[Milsurplus] RT-45/ARQ-1

[Mike Hanz]

On 6/12/2011 3:02 PM, Mike Morrow wrote:
> I'll add a question I have.  The RT-45/ARQ-1 (14 to 50 KHz) jammer is often said to
> be intended for use against ground targets.  But one of the most common
> German fighter aircraft communications sets of WWII was the FuG 16 VHF AM
> set (38 to 43 MHz).
>
> It seems to me if one is in a bomber there could be real value in jamming
> fighters dispatched against you.  What little I know supports considering
> this as the intended purpose of the AN/ARQ-1.

Nope.  Its primary purpose was to jam ground communication from above, 
to react to rapid tactical changes on the ground under the rubric of 
"every little bit we (USAAF) can do to help the infantryman".

> In contrast, an aircraft being able to jam German armor or other ground
> communications seems to have minimal value.

The record in both the Price book and the Division 15 report suggests 
that it was moderately successful, Mike.  Getting back to the time line 
issue I mentioned in a previous rant, you probably understand the 
frenetic pace of countermeasures development during the war, and the 
ARQ-1 was but one of several jammers that were sequentially fielded to 
meet a ground threat  - but not necessarily against aircraft.  The 
briefness of a set's viability during the war was frequently measured in 
weeks or months, and so it was with the ARQ-1.  Parallel development 
(yes, that politically incorrect word "duplicative" in terms of 
reactions to the threat) of multiple systems by both Army and Navy 
organizations was the norm during the war, and ever-increasing power and 
bandwidths were realized with systems fielded in waves of a few weeks or 
months apart.  The culmination of that fielding was probably the ART-3, 
which pushed a kilowatt of power down to the German tank comms threat.

There was a secondary effort to disrupt German fighter control, using 
whatever equipment had the capability to do so, but much of that was 
British based jamming that was fairly successful in confusing fighter 
direction to incoming Allied aircraft.  There seems to have been a gray 
area between tactical and strategic jamming that mirrored overlapping 
tactical capabilities.  Anyway, it's a fascinating subject for geeks 
like us.

73,
Mike