Sky Capture is a command and control (C2) system for anti-aircraft artillery and Very Short Range Air Defense (VSHORAD) systems. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) described Sky Capture as an anti-aircraft C2 system that transforms the customer’s legacy air-defence systems into modern, accurate and effective weapons by applying modern sensors, communications and computing capabilities. The system integrates several sensors, including target acquisition and fire control radar systems, including the ELM-2106 Advanced Tactical Air-Defense Radar (ATAR).
Sky Capture features the ELM-2106 medium-range advanced tactical acquisition radar (ATAR) as well as an EO sensor made by IAI’s Tamam division. This 4th Generation 3D is optimized to detect targets with low radar cross-section, such as low-velocity UAVs and ultralights that can be detected from 40-60 km. The ATAR radar can detect helicopters at 40 km, and classify such targets by type, according to the radar signature returned from the rotor blade returns. A solid-state L-Band medium-range radar. This radar combines rotation in azimuth with electronic scanning in elevation.
The system also combines an electro-optical (EO) payload for passive track and target identification. For the Sky Capture solution ATAR is associated with a separate fire control radar providing effective target engagement with continuous search and tracking of multiple targets. The solution provides accurate target data for the weapons associated with the system and manages to fire parameters to ensure the highest probability of target kill, according to the target type. Typical weapons controlled by the system are the Bofors L-70 cannons and ZSU-23/2 automatic guns.
The Sky Capture system manages threat and firing detection according to the target type, has been designed to provide short-range point defence for “army forces, headquarters, bases, and strategic assets against a broad range of airborne threats through cannon control”. These are the system sensors that detect the target and point it to each other. If the radar detects the target first, it directs the EO sensor. If the EO detects first, it directs the radar. It tracks the threat all of the time in the sky, and then decides at which point it wants to hit it.
