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French Navy Electronics

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Brockpaine

The Shadow

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Tuesday, April 5th 2011, 11:30pm

French Navy Electronics

The designations for the naval side of things are correct for the specific types, but there is very little information available about what the French called their pre-WWII radars, so I just started the sequence at '1' and moved on from there. Although the French Army is actively involved, the French Navy has more varied needs and is largely driving development.

I'm aware that at least some point in the past, Russia purchased naval radar systems from France; and per discussions with Wes, France and Atlantis are closely collaborating and sharing technological breakthroughs. Russia is still be purchasing off-the-shelf French equipment, but also manufacturing their own, as well as producing French-designed sets under license.

Quoted

French Naval Radars of the 1940s:

Air Search Radars
- DRBV-2B: Further development of DRBV-2A radar specialized for air-search.
- DRBV-4: Pulsed air-search set introduced early 1938. Installed aboard St. Cyr, Dunkerque-class, and Sénégal-class.
- DRBV-6: Short-ranged aircraft-detection radar for submarines, deployed 1939. Range 6km.
- DRBV-7: Further development of DRBV-5 centimetric surface-search radar, introduced early 1941 (installed aboard L'Ocean and Bucentaure class carriers).
- DRBV-11 "Moselle": Early phased-array radar developed for sea service, introduced in September 1947.

Height-finding Radars
- DRBI-1: Height-finding radar developed in 1936. Not ordered in quantity and not used operationally.
- DRBI-2: Refined DRBI-1 set installed aboard St. Cyr, Dunkerque-class, and Sénégal-class.
- DRBI-2R: Refined DRBI-2 set in service by late 1941.
- DRBI-3: Sentry-radar developed for deployment in mid 1944 aboard Vengeur, Inflexible, and refitted Emile Bertin-class ships.
- DRBI-4: Pulse-doppler altimetric radar introduced in December 1947 for destroyers and cruisers; extremely high accuracy.

Surface and Low-altitude Air Search Radars
- DRBV-1: Radar set installed aboard liner Normandie. Not a pulsed radar - primarily for warning/anti-collision. [1]
- DRBV-2A: First naval radar, introduced aboard Algerie-class cruisers. Refined from the DRBV-1 with greater emphasis on reliability. Also known to be supplied to Russia.
- DRBV-3: Designation reserved for further development of the DRBV-2A; the set planned to use this designation was re-ordered as pulsed unit, the DRBV-3C.
- DRBV-3C: Search set introduced late 1937. This was the first set capable of roughly determining both direction and range (with an accuracy of 5 degrees and ~250 meters). Installed aboard St. Cyr.
- DRBV-3D: Upgrade to DRBV-3C set for reliability and accuracy; capable of double use in some conditions as a fire-control radar. Installed aboard Strasbourg and Dunkerque.
- DRBV-5: Centimetric search radar introduced April 1939 (installed aboard Paris and Lyon).
- DRBV-6C: Improved version of air-search-only DRBV-6, used for submarines and motor torpedo boats. Refitted to Protee class in late 1943, and installed aboard La Combattant II-class.
- DRBV-8: Centimetric search radar introduced in late 1941 introduction aboard Libertie-class and Temeraire-class.
- DRBV-8B: Improved variant of DRBV-8 introduced in late 1943 for installation aboard Jean Bart class; refitted to Indochine and Nouvelle-Calédonie.
- DRBV-9: Lightened DRBV-8 centimetric air and surface search radar for destroyers and cruisers, introduced late 1941.
- DRBV-9B: Improved variant of DRBV-9 centimetric air and surface search radar for destroyers and cruisers, introduced early 1944.
- DRBV-9C: Variant of DBRV-9B with a larger antenna design, intended for use aboard capital ships. Introducted 1946.

Fire-Control Radars
- DRBC-1A: Prototype fire-control radar derived from DRBV-3C set, not installed aboard ship.
- DRBC-1B: Refined DRBC-1A; intended for installation aboard St. Cyr for 120mm guns, but never installed.
- DRBC-1C: Refined DRBC-1A; intended for installation aboard Dunkerque and Strasbourg for 13.4" and 9.4" guns, but never installed as it did not represent any improvement over the DRBV-3D.
- DRBC-2: Centimetric fire-control radar for large-caliber guns deployed April 1939 aboard Paris and Lyon.
- DRBC-3A: Centimetric fire-control radar for small-caliber (100mm-138mm) guns deployed mid-1940.
- DRBC-3B: Updated DRBC-3 set entering production August 1942.
- DRBC-3DCA: Lightened DRBC-3B set on specialized high-angle mount for control of AA guns.
- DRBC-4: Pulse-doppler fire-control radar introduced in 1947 for guns in the 100-150mm range, suitable for destroyers and cruisers.
- DRBC-5: Designation skipped.
- DRBC-6: A highly-modified DRBC-3DCA radar used for guidance of the MCA48 missile.

Navigation Radars
- DRBN-1: Variant of DRBV-2A intended for commercial use.
- DRBN-2: Variant of DRBV-9B radar, used aboard merchant ships from 3,000t and larger.

Jammer/Detectors
- ARBR-1: Deployed 1944.

French Airborne Radars 1940:
- SDA-1: Airborne surface-search radar for heavy bombers and maritime patrol aircraft (1938).
- SDA-2: Prototype radar altimeter, late 1939.
- SDA-3: Improved SDA-1, in service late 1939.
- SDA-4: Production SDA-2.
- SDAR-4B: SDA-4 radar in tail warning mount (developed 1941)
- SDA-5A: Airborne intercept radar developed in 1940 for night-fighters; in service 1941.
- SDA-5B: SDA-5 set redesigned for underwing pod.
- SDA-6: Night bombing aid, in service 1941.

French Land-Based Radars 1940:
- SADIR SFR: Radar set for static ground stations with a range of 130 km (81 mi), introduced 1939.
- SADIR SFR-2: SFR set designed for colonial or export applications.
- SADIR SFR-3: Improved SFR set introduced late 1940.
- SADIR SFR-4: Centimetric air-warning and tracking set introduced early 1941.
- SADIR SFR-4M: Mobile (trailer-mobile) SFR-4 radar set designed for anti-aircraft control, introduced late 1941.

Notes
Note [1]: The DRBV-1, DRBV-2A, and DRBV-2B radars all generate continuous waves, and thus cannot determine either range or direction. As such, they represent only the knowledge of *something* close-by.

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