Patria’s new product Patria CATCHR provides real-time recognized situational picture

An invisible passive sensor to the enemy

The Patria CATCHR system consists of antenna units and a data-processing server. The easily transportable system can be quickly moved and installed on site. The lightweight antenna units, about a metre wide, are mounted on a fixed mast or a mobile platform, such as a container or a mast integrated into or towed by a vehicle.

A high-performance server handles digital signal processing. Moreover, real-time observations are automatically recorded in full at the background. Patria CATCHR can be flexibly integrated into various command systems.

The Patria CATCHR system offers undetectable, real-time surveillance by utilizing passive sensors that ensure operational secrecy and flexibility on the battlefield.

Patria CATCHR is a so-called passive sensor. This means that, unlike conventional active radars, the device does not transmit signals itself. As such, the enemy cannot detect or locate the system or its performance.
– The weakness of active radars that transmit signals is that, in a wartime scenario, the enemy can detect and destroy them quickly. Passive sensors can be deployed more densely and closer to the front line, notes Kalle Martikainen.

A cost-Effective solution for comprehensive air surveillance

CATCHR is a cost-effective solution for supplementing air surveillance and covering blind spots of active radars.
One antenna unit covers a 90-degree sector. By combining four units, a 360-degree surveillance coverage is achieved, from which the system can detect targets hundreds of kilometres away.

A target is located using triangulation, which requires two Patria CATCHR stations. These can be located more than a hundred kilometres apart. In other positioning systems, target geolocation typically requires four sensor stations that must be much closer together.
Martikainen points out that, in addition to air surveillance, CATCHR can also provide real-time situational awareness for signals intelligence and detect targets of interest for intelligence purposes.
– Patria CATCHR can also detect and track previously unknown transmitters. In this way, signals intelligence can be directed to identify them and to further build the signal database.

Patria CATCHR is a cost-effective system that detects and tracks electronic targets, even in radar blind spots.

Patria CATCHR is an ESM (Electronic Support Measures) system that detects, identifies, and tracks electronic targets on the battlefield. The significance of accurate and real-time intelligence information is increasingly central in state defence worldwide.

Kalle Martikainen explains that Patria CATCHR is based on Patria’s long-term development in electronic intelligence and surveillance solutions. It complements the company’s comprehensive product range in signals intelligence.

Patria’s offering already includes the Patria ARIS system, which collects information on adversary’s fixed surveillance radars as well as radar systems used, for example, on aircraft and ships. The system can also be used to search for various weapons systems.
Signals detected by ARIS are used to build a comprehensive and up-to-date signal database, which can then be utilised by the Patria CATCHR system, and other similar systems, for the automatic identification of target types.

Patria’s product portfolio also includes Patria MUSCL, which, as a passive radar system, covers the blind spots of active radars and detects even small and low-flying targets. The Patria MUSCL system relies on existing radio signals in the environment as illuminators of opportunity, such as those from radio or television broadcast stations.

High performance as Patria’s competitive advantage

Patria’s sensor systems have continuously been enhanced with technical solutions that improve their capabilities. In the new generation of systems, artificial intelligence is used, among other things, for signal identification and analysis.

Patria’s competitive advantage is a solution always precisely tailored to the customer’s needs, which, in addition to receiver technology, also includes devices and software enabling efficient data processing.

According to Kalle Martikainen, interest in Patria’s electronic intelligence and surveillance systems has clearly grown in international markets. The Patria CATCHR system was introduced for the first time in September at the EW Live event in Tartu, Estonia.
– Patria CATCHR attracted the interest of many exhibition visitors. It appears that we have managed to find a market niche for a product that is in demand.

According to Martikainen, there are few high-performance systems on the market comparable to Patria CATCHR, where the precise location of targets is determined using correlative interferometer technology.
– Patria CATCHR stands out from others with its high performance. Our system is able to detect a target from much further away and quickly provide accurate directional measurement for tracking purposes.