Thales Manufacturer and Supplier Bae System a Long The world's Largest Technology Military

BAE Systems is extensively involved in the naval surveillance radar world via its Insyte (Integrated Systems Technologies) business unit. The company’s SAMPSON Sband multifunction radar equips the Royal Navy’s Type-45 Daring class destroyers (where the radar is connected to a BAE Systems Insyte CMS). Moreover, SAMPSON provides the basis for the ARTISAN (Advanced Radar Target Indication Situational Awareness and Navigation) radar which is earmarked for the Senior Service’s future Queen-Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, and for retrofit onto the HMS Ocean amphibious support ship, the Type-23 Duke class frigates and Albion class assault vessels for use with the latter ships’ BAE Systems ADAWS-2000 CMS. SAMPSON, which has a range of up to 400 km (216 nm), uses Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology which allows it to broadcast across a range of frequencies which can make it comparatively difficult to intercept.

Saab,meanwhile, has been very successful at leveraging technology developed for land systems into its naval product line. One example is the company’s Sea Giraffe Agile Multi-Beam radar which is descended from
the Giraffe air defence radar, itself a component of the firm’s BAMSE RBS-23 anti-aircraft missile system. The Sea Giraffe is already deployed on the Baynunah class corvettes used by the United Arab Emirates navy, and is a two-dimensional system with a compact size and a light weight which sweeps at 60 revolutions-per-minute. Sea Giraffe has been produced in several versions including the Mod.C, which has a 0-70° search angle of elevation, and a particularly good capability against sea-skimming missile targets and
small boats.

For small vessels performing mine countermeasures work and offshore patrol, Saab’s Sea Giraffe LT version maintains the performance of the Mod.C in a package which can easily equip diminutive vessels, thanks to its low weight of 250Kg (551lb). Sea Giraffe has been selected for the ANZAC-class frigates operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy which have also seen their Saab 9LV CMS capabilities being upgraded. The 9LV can connect a vessel’s sensors, weapons and communications to provide an instant view for the ships’ personnel of their vessels’ status, using open architecture to provide a plug-and-play capability for these systems.

Although arguably not a major part of EADS’ business, the company does, nevertheless, produce a surveillance radar product in the guise of its C-band (4-8 Ghz) TRS-3D multifunction surveillance radar which has a range of 200Km. Envisaged for smaller vessels such as patrol ships and corvettes, EADS has hit upon a winning formula with a product that has secured orders from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Spain and the United States. Like EADS, Terma of Denmark has carved a niche as a provider of
specialist naval surveillance radar built around their Scanter family of products Both the Scanter-6000 and
Scanter-4100 are X-band (8-12GHz) 2D radar which are optimized to detect small targets and have a
range of up to 185Km.

The choice of X-band is important as it allows the use of a relatively small antenna ensuring that the radar remains light weight, while also providing a decent surveillance range. One of the most famous naval CMS and radar combinations in service today is Lockheed Martin’s Aegis product. Built around the AN/SPY-1 phased array radar, Aegis can provide simultaneous surveillance information, fire control for guns and missiles,
plus multiple target tracking. Aegis is in extensive use globally, deployed on the Royal Norwegian Navy’s Fridtjof Namsenclass anti-submarine frigates, which use the AN/SPY-1F radar, designed with smaller
antennae compared to the AN/SPY-1D radar used by the Armada Española (Spanish Navy) Alvaro de Bazan class multi-purpose frigates; and the US Navy’s Arleigh-Burke class, South Korea’s King Sejong the Great class and Japan’s Atago class destroyers. The AN/SPY-1 has also been selected by the Australian and Turkish navies, and the company is working on the AN/SPY-1K version designed for smaller vessels such as corvettes.