Ukraine has ordered a second modern Control Master 200 radar system from France. The first one, handed over to Ukraine in 2023, significantly improved its Armed Forces’ air defense capabilities.
The Ukrainian and French Ministries of Defense have signed a contract for the supply of the Control Master 200 system. This is not just a radar but a system consisting of the Ground Master 200 (GM200) radar and the ControlView GBAD C2 electronic system, which analyzes all radar information and provides air defense systems with accurate data for missile guidance and targeting.
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The Control Master 200 system allows controlling the airspace within a radius of 250 kilometers and about 100 kilometers in combat conditions with the use of powerful means of electronic warfare and electronic reconnaissance. This task is assigned to the Ground Master 200 multi-mission 3D medium range radar.
The 3D radar is a system that determines distance and direction in three dimensions. Unlike 2D radars, which provide only range and azimuth, 3D radars also measure altitude. Thanks to this, 3D radars allow for accurately determining the location of each object, its altitude and trajectory.
The radar is housed in a standard 20-foot shipping container, allowing it to be easily transported by road, rail, aircraft, including helicopters. The Ground Master 200 is convenient not only from the point of view of logistics: the container is equipped with a power generator unit, and the radar can be set up in 15 minutes after arriving at the position. Removing the system from the position is also extremely fast, taking only 10 minutes, after which the radar can be moved to another position. Autonomous operation and ease of transportation allow Ukrainian forces to quickly change the location of the radar, ensuring maximum safety of its operators. The high mobility of the system also helps to quickly deliver the radar to the areas on the front, where it is more needed. It is worth noting that the Ground Master 200 radar can be controlled both from the inside of the container and remotely, from more protected places.
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Ukraine can use this system not only to protect stationary objects, but also for tactical informing troops on the battlefield.
The GM200 was first introduced in June 2010. The maximum speed of updating information on the radar is 1.5 seconds, and the electronics use artificial intelligence in their algorithms, which helps to simplify the work of operators and increase the overall efficiency of the system. In normal mode, the radar makes 20 rotations per minute, but can rotate twice as fast, if necessary, although this reduces the detection radius from 250 to 100 kilometers. The GM200 can detect air targets such as aircraft, helicopters, missiles and UAVs, as well as sea surface targets, artillery shells and mines. The target detection altitude reaches 24 kilometers. That is, the radar can also work against ballistic missiles.
The function of artillery detection can radically change the situation in certain areas of the front. With the help of this radar, it is possible to detect not only the fired artillery shells, but also the location of the artillery positions themselves. The system is able to calculate the hit point of enemy artillery or missiles while in flight, which allows for prompt response to threats and increases the effectiveness of defense.
The characteristics of the system allow to control and cover entire sectors with units deployed in them. Ukraine can use this system not only to protect stationary objects, but also for tactical informing troops on the battlefield. It helps save Ukrainian soldiers’ lives, giving them time to seek shelter during artillery fire.
The design of the radar allows simultaneous tracking of fast and slow targets at low and high altitudes.
The Control Master 200 is manufactured by the French defense company Thales Group. The armies of the UAE, Norway and Ukraine use Thales radar systems.
The Control Master 200 has an open, modern architecture that allows it to be integrated into almost any NATO country’s modern air defense system. These systems are especially well integrated with the French defense systems SAMP/T previously transferred to Ukraine. The use of Control Master 200 systems in tandem with SAMP/T complexes will significantly expand the capabilities of this system, since the basic radar Thomson-CSF ARABEL used in the SAMP/T is capable of detecting only typical air targets at a distance of up to 80-100 kilometers.
Ukraine will receive the new Control Master 200 system directly from the manufacturing plant, and not from the previously used complexes of other armies.
The ControlView GBAD C2, which is part of the Control Master 200 system, is a highly digitized modern control system for all radar systems and indicators. All information collected by the radar is transmitted to the ControlView GBAD C2, which analyzes it and transmits instructions to other air defense systems in real time. This communication system is responsible for the integration of the system with launchers of other manufacturers.
The supply of such radar systems is of critical importance for Ukraine. Informing Ukrainian troops on the battlefield will save thousands of lives, and the ability to identify enemy artillery positions will ensure the effective and rapid destruction of Russian artillery, which greatly outnumbers Ukrainian artillery.
It helps save Ukrainian soldiers’ lives, giving them time to seek shelter during artillery fire.
However, it is worth understanding that the supply of radars is only half the story. To use these systems at full capacity, Ukraine needs additional air defense assets. Especially needed are systems like C-RAM, or DAMA, capable of destroying artillery shells and mines using targeting from similar 3D radars.
It is worth focusing not only on the possibility of giving the troops time to find shelter, but also on the possibility of completely preventing the aimed work of enemy artillery. Some C-RAM systems guarantee the destruction of artillery shells from a distance of several kilometers, with a probability of more than 70 percent.
In addition, the Control Master 200 radar is able to detect the launch of guided aerial bombs, calculate their trajectory and direct means of destruction at them, which is of particular importance for Ukrainian defense, given the intensity of use of these munitions by the Russians in the war against Ukraine.
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