Thorium
Contents
Description
The Toriy or Thorium is a Soviet airborne target detection (search) radar.
Vehicles equipped with this radar
General info / usage
The Thorium is only a target detection radar so it cannot track targets by itself or provide a lead indicator. The radar has a respectable maximum detection range of 15 km and a fairly quick sweep rate, but a narrow scanning angle.
| Features | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Band | Pulse mode | PD mode | MTI mode | IRST mode | TWS mode | SARH |
| I | ✓ | X | X | X | X | X |
| Search characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Max range | Display ranges | IFF | |||
| SRC | 15 km | 15 km | X | |||
| Search modes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Scan type | Azimuth | Elevation | Period | ||
| SRC | Two-way raster | ±30° | -11°/+21° | 0.7 s | ||
Comparison with analogues
The Thorium radar compares fairly closely to the RP-5 and AI Mk. X search radars. Of the three, the Thorium has the best range with a 15 km max range and 12 km guaranteed range. However, it also has the worst scanning angles with only ±30°. While equaling the RP-5's minimum range, it still falls behind the 150 m minimum range of the AI Mk. X.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Respectable 15,000 m max range
- Fairly fast scanning
Cons:
- Fairly narrow scanning angles
History
In the late 1940s, the Soviets put out requirements for a high-performance night and bad weather interceptor, which would carry the Toriy ("Thorium") radar, which was under development at the Naoochno-Issledovatel'skiy Institut Priborostroyeniya (Research Institute of Instrument Engineering) or NII-17. This competition would lead to the development of the La-200, Su-15, and I-320.
During testing of the La-200 the Toriy radar was found to have unreliable and generally poor performance. The Tiroy radar was replaced with the Korshun ("Kite") radar, which offered better performance although still not adequate. Eventually by 1953 it too was replaced with the Sokol ("Falcon") radar, which finally provided adequate performance. By the time the Sokol radar was ready the performance of the three aircraft originally designed for the program was deemed no longer good enough and all three were canceled in favour of a new aircraft, the Yakovlev Yak-25.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
