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The BEL Weapon Locating Radar (WLR) is a mobile artillery locating Phased array radar developed by India. This counter-battery radar is designed to detect and track incoming artillery and rocket fire to determine the point of origin for Counter-battery fire. The WLR has been jointly developed by DRDO's Bangalore based laboratory, LRDE and the Government owned Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). The sub-systems have been fabricated by BEL based on the DRDO designs and delivered to LRDE for integration.〔(WLR Page ) on DRDO website.〕 ==History== The Indian army projected a requirement for fire-finding radars in the 1980s. As early as 1989, the Indian Army evaluated the American AN/TPQ-36/37 radars. However, these radars were not allowed to be sold, and the procurement process was stopped by the Government.〔 In February 1995, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued to five companies for procurement of 4 WLRs. Only Hughes (now Raytheon) responded to the RFP. After trials, the radar was found to not be meeting the General Staff Quality Requirements (GSQRs) of the Indian Army, which were found to be too stringent, and were relaxed. At the same time, it was decided to consider development of an indigenous WLR by India's primary defense contractor, DRDO.〔 In September 1998, an RFP was issued for the urgent purchase of WLRs - An/TPQ-36/37 from Hughes (USA), Thomson CSF (France) and ISKARA of (Ukraine). However, the American and French radars were withheld after sanctions were imposed after the Pokhran-II Nuclear tests, and negotiations with the Ukrainian manufacturers came to no conclusion. Additionally, DRDO was not authorized to begin development of a WLR. These lacklustre efforts to obtain a WLR system were severely criticized by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence.〔(Third Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence ) of the 13th Lok Sabha for the year 1999-2000 (PDF). pp 18-19. The Committee commented, ''"The Committee is seriously concerned by the degree of seeming casualness shown by the Defence Ministry in this regard. The Committee desires that the Government should take immediate steps to equip the Army with this Radar."''〕 Efforts to acquire such a system intensified after the Kargil War, where the Indian Army was severely disadvantaged by its lack of firefinding radars. While the Pakistani forces were equipped with American AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radars, India only had British Cymbeline mortar detecting radars, which were not suitable. Almost 80% of Indian casualties during the war resulted from enemy artillery fire, making such a radar critical.〔〔 To correct this weakness, in 2002, the Ministry of Defence issued an RFP to five manufacturers. With the lifting of sanctions in late 2001, the US Government offered to sell the AN/TPQ-37 radar to India under their Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme for . 680 million each.〔(Sixteenth Report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence ) of the 13th Lok Sabha for the year 2002-03 (PDF). pp 23-24. The Committee commented, ''"The Committee are not satisfied with the reply of the Ministry of Defence that acquisition of Weapon Locating Radar(WLR) will take three years. Three years is a long period. In view of the grave security threat emanating from across the borders, immediate steps should be taken to procure WLR."''〕 In July 2002, India placed a $200 million USD order for 12 AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radars. Initially, only 8 were ordered for $140 million USD, but the order was later increased to 12.〔 The radars were integrated on BEML-manufactured Tatra truck platforms.〔 Delivery of all 12 radars was completed in May 2007.〔 Concept design work on the WLR also accelerated in the aftermath of the Kargil War. The WLR project was officially sanctioned in April 2002, with a sanctioned amount of 200 million and an estimated completion time of 40 months.〔.〕 The first working prototype was to be ready by April 2004. The final project cost was $49 million USD. In January 2003, an intent for procurement of 28 WLRs was placed with BEL.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「BEL Weapon Locating Radar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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