Cymbeline Mortar Locating Radar

How good is this kit? I never came across it in my service, but have heard differing reports on it. I'd be glad to hear it from the "Horse's Mouth" so to speak?

very good in the hands of a good crew, had to be quick & accurate as mortars didn`t tend to stay in the one place very long. last I heard it was still in service.

Does it take a bearing on the round and calculate azimuth bearings etc - that's how I imagine it would work. Stuck on the back of a 432 I don't suppose speed would have been coming if you had to get out of the way of counter battery fire or whatever mortars do!

As90 in the background, nice gun!

The radar set came in two forms, roof mounted on an FV432 (436 ?) and towed behind a Land Rover. The FV432s were delivered to the EMI factory where the roof doors were removed and a new roof inserted that included three hydralic jacks to level the set while in operation. (the towed version had four screw jacks and a spirit level). The jacks intruded considerably into the fighting compartment and had to be heavily padded. A simple desk was installed against the engine firewall for the operator(s). The system was broken down into seperate sub-assemblies. Inside the fighting compartment the operator has the screen assembly (unit #8) and the leveling gear. Everything else (I think) was in the chassis on the roof. From what I remember, the operator set the radar to a 'listen' mode where it scanned just above the horizon looking for a mortar round to pass through the narrow beam. When a round was detected the operator marked it on the screen and flipped the radar up by 20-30 degrees and waited for the round to pass through the beam again. Again the operator marked the screen. The operator then moved a set of cross wires over the first point and marked the intersection (for the systems analogue computer), then repeated it for the second. With the co-ordinates the computer could calculate the point from which the round was fired (relative to the radars location). Power was provided by a wankel petrol engine generator (pull start ... a real knack required to get the thing to fire)

The wheel mounted version of Cymbeline was in use in 1975 in Oman in the Dhofar conflict. Although designed as a mortar locator it was also very effective in locating rocket firing positions, specifically single Katyusha. With good operators the artillery response could be on its way before the incoming rocket arrived. The enemy twigged what was going on and targeted the command bunker (constructed with four foot thick walls) - unsuccessfully.