New star of the show

Star bright: Maj-Gen Ash Power, Commander 1 Div and Gnr Clinton Wong 131 STA Bty officially launch the AMSTAR at Enoggera. The AMSTAR will enhance land force surveillance and targeting capabilities within the Army. Photo by Cpl Tim Asher

ENEMY detection capability received a boost with the official delivery of the Australian Man Portable Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar (AMSTAR) at Enoggera on December 5.

At a ceremony to mark the occasion, Maj-Gen Ash Power, Comd 1 Div and DJFHQ, said the radar would significantly enhance land force surveillance and targeting capabilities.

The AMSTAR radar incorporates leading edge technology and provides an all-weather target detection and classification capability at ranges over 30km. The radar can also provide accurate fall-of-shot correction for artillery or mortar fire.

It augments perimeter surveillance equipment, NVGs and thermal imagers to provide a suite of sensors that can be tailored to specific operational and environmental conditions.

131 STA Bty is the first unit to receive the 58 AMSTARs that will be supplied to units around Australia for training and operational deployment.

Gnr Clinton Wong, 131 STA Bty, said MMI computer interface “is a significant improvement upon its MSTAR predecessor with advanced mapping features and additional functionality”.

“Unlike the old system, we can now record Doppler tones,” Gnr Wong said.

“The way we tell the difference between personnel, tracked vehicles, rotary aircraft, ships and so on, is by hearing the Doppler tones and getting that distinct noise. For example personnel make a swishing noise as their legs brush past each other.”

He said the new equipment allowed users to record the tones and assign a file name to gradually build up a library of specific Doppler tones, for example different types of vehicles.

Maj Paul Adams, GSR Project Manager, said while “the delivery of AMSTAR is a significant achievement for the DMO and Army, technical mastery by operators and commanders is now required to maximise this new capability.”