The Germans captured a significant number of VT fuses in the Battle of the Bulge which caused the US to develop a jammer based on the AP-4. They quickly produced 200 of them. Were they designed to be used on the ground against air burst VT shells kind of like the first force field? If so how effective would they have been given the fact that the fuse was designed to burst in the air before it hit the ground? How far out could the jammer have made the shell explode and would this have been a significant distance compare to where the original distance was set? Would not the shell be coming in at a high trajectory so the jammer would have to have quite a range to make a difference. How far above the ground did the VT shell typically explode?
It's pretty obscure, I've never heard of it, not that that means anything. Bump it up now and then, hopefully some knowledgable visitor to the forum will have some info.
AFAIK, the modified AN/APT-4 was only ever tested against proximity fused AA shells, and not against artillery shells. While successful, there was always the possibility of a "late" burst.
Why would they all of a sudden make 200 AN/APT-4 and distribute them if the threat was from ground burst?
The VT fuse wasnt meant to be used against ground targets, it was meant to burst in proximity to any aircraft which reflected a given radar frequency. They just happened to find that they would do the same if the radar was bounced off the ground. So, a jammer would do one of two things, it would destroy the shell at long range, or it would make the shell smash into the ground. If it would set them off, it would do so any time the jammer was closer than the radar. This is the point where the signals are the same strength and the jammer would have the advantage from that point and closer.
I wonder what that range was? How far out did the AN/ATP4 jam effectively. It would have to be very far if it would be of any significance for a ground burst since the ground burst needed to be fairly high altitude would it not? I seem to have read somewhere that the test on the jammer had it setting off the fuse thousands of feet from the plane carrying it so that the plane was untouched. I wonder how many thousands of feet?
