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30 Dec 20. Making the most of the UK’s defence budget boost. Building the most advanced defence force in the world means nothing if we can’t protect it, writes Angus Hone, CEO of Blighter Surveillance Systems
The defence industry is going through one of the most challenging periods in recent history. It is characterised by a diverse and continuously evolving threat environment, fast-paced technological, societal and economic change, and levels of uncertainty that have never been so great.
Against this background, the UK Government’s commitment to increase defence spending significantly to meet these threats is welcome, and creates much-needed certainty in the funding of defence and security over the next four years. The UK has one of the largest defence industries in the world and produces some of the most cutting-edge technology available, so this is also a major opportunity for the Ministry of Defence to invest in new capabilities that are best suited to meeting the challenges of the threat environment that we face.
Across the industry we have all been given an opportunity to showcase our innovation and adaptability as we seek to support the government in this endeavour. Whether your expertise lies in shipbuilding, cyber or advanced surveillance capabilities, there is now a once-in-a-generation chance to create our most advanced defence infrastructure that can be developed and adapted throughout its life span.
Notably, as part of this uplift, the government has committed to providing £5.8bn to support research and development for the military. They have also announced that there will be further financial support given to the Future Combat Air System (Team Tempest). The Secretary of State Ben Wallace also announced a commitment to enhancing the Royal Navy’s fleet with the promise of a class of Type 32 frigates. These will be developed and built alongside the Type 26 and Type 31s previously announced.
Tackling emerging threats
Overall, the groundwork this lays for the future of our industry and our Armed Forces is overwhelmingly positive. However, we also cannot afford to look at these opportunities in isolation without thinking of wider obligations that come with them.
Over recent years there has been an explosion in the availability of easy-to-fly, low-cost small aircraft, initially aimed at the leisure and hobby space but increasingly finding use in commercial applications. Their ability to go where it’s hard to send a human operator while carrying high-definition cameras and other sensors makes them an extremely useful platform via which to deliver a very wide range of services into many different sectors.
But any tool can be used for bad as well as good, and with governments caught unprepared for the risks associated with this emerging technology, there exist a number of vulnerabilities that criminals or mischief-makers are able to exploit during this first generation of the UAV, while adequate safeguards and regulations are still only beginning to mature.
There are a broad range of drone threats. There are opportunities for drones to be used as delivery mechanisms for weapons, as platforms for remote surveillance or as part of diversionary and disruptive activities to support operations by criminals, terrorists or protestors wishing to make a point, but at the same time it is crucial for security teams to understand what the real threat is in order to plan effective responses and prepare for the kinds of UAV related activity that could occur.
Protecting information
The construction of a highly advanced future fleet is of paramount importance to their seaworthiness and the aforementioned R&D investment should ensure we are able to achieve that, but having the most advanced fleet in the world is meaningless if our adversaries know everything about it.
We are now constantly warned about the increasing threat from cyber-attacks and it is right that we ensure our systems are prepared to prevent these. However, when building platforms on the scale of what is being discussed now, we have to accept that the range of threats to confidential information is much wider.
Take a dockyard for example, where the risks are not just coming from the internet, but the land, the water and, thanks to the ever-increasing prevalence of UAVs, the sky. We need to ensure that we are not leaving ourself open to espionage or disturbance by hostile actors through any of these avenues.
While we have previously had perimeter security that served to effectively monitor the edges of any military base, the way that technology has developed recently has meant that often we are not necessarily addressing the less visible threats.
A modern UAV can take detailed, high-resolution images and video from the sky whilst being small enough that traditional methods of detection will neither see nor hear it. When the protection of our platforms and intellectual property is essential, the idea that we could be literally placing images in our enemy’s hands is untenable.
Streamlining integration
In many situations, the advance of this technology has resulted in many security systems being developed and introduced in a piecemeal fashion. As a threat has emerged, another platform has been introduced, as it has developed another system has been overlaid to the point where numerous products are constantly overlaying each other, providing a visual overload to those responsible for monitoring.
With the new, increased budget, we should look at this as an opportunity to upgrade our defensive infrastructure, finally integrating our site protection with the advanced systems now available. We should move away from an era of adding an extra sensor every time a new challenge approaches and use systems that can simultaneously monitor the air, land and sea whilst having full protection from cyber threats.
If we are to truly enhance our national security capabilities, we must take a holistic approach that encompasses not just our front-line but all the elements that go into supporting it. It is not enough, in this day and age, to think that the battles are taking place abroad but accept that the threats to our intelligence and security can be taking place on our shores without us ever being aware of them.
So, yes, the news of increasing defence budgets is indeed welcome, but I would also like to encourage the government to look at the bigger picture and ensure that all of our future commitments are protected not just on whilst on deployment, but from their inception. (Source: army-technology.com)
29 Dec 20. Thales Australia to Deliver Enhanced Sonars for Collins Class Submarines.
- Australia’s Collins Class submarines will gain enhanced mine and obstacle avoidance capability under a contract signed between Thales Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia.
- The Australian designed and developed technology is tailored to the unique requirements of the Royal Australian Navy with optimised operational capability in warm shallow water.
- This contract expands upon the ongoing sonar upgrade of the Collins Class being rolled out to the fleet which includes a full replacement of the prime sonar arrays of the submarine.
Australia’s Collins Class submarines will increase their operational effectiveness in hazardous, shallow waters through the delivery of sovereign Mine and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar (MOAS) and High Frequency Intercept Array (HFIA) systems.
Thales Australia and the Commonwealth of Australia (CoA) have signed a $23.7M contract to deliver these next generation systems on the Collins Class Submarines.
The Heron MOAS is an Australian designed and developed system and the result of more than 20 years of investment in Australia by Thales, the RAN and Defence Science and Technology to develop sonar systems tailored to Navy’s unique operating requirements.
Mine and obstacle avoidance capability is critical to sustain naval operations due to the rapidly evolving threat of mines, as well as other navigational hazards in the shallow, poorly charted waters that are prevalent throughout Australia’s maritime region.
The Herron system provides enhanced detection, coupled with a low false alarm rate, against dangers ranging from small mine-like objects to reefs, shoals, and hazardous objects like displaced shipping containers.
The High Frequency Intercept Array (HFIA) will enhance the submarine’s ability to detect high frequency emissions like sonars, and emerging undersea threats.
Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said that these new systems will achieve more than 80% Australian Industry Capability and additional export opportunities.
“These advanced systems are designed, developed, integrated and sustained in Australia. Enhancing our world leading sovereign industrial capability in sonar systems.
“Together, these contracts will support approximately 30 jobs at our Rydalmere site in western Sydney and additional jobs with our supply chain partners.
Thales Australia Underwater Systems Vice President, Troy Stephen said the Heron MOAS will give our submarines the tools they need to remain safe within a mine threat area.
“We will be working with a great team of Australian supply chain partners and the proven capability of the Underwater Systems team in France to deliver this capability to the Royal Australian Navy”. (Source: ASD Network)
21 Dec 20. Leonardo’s Acoustic Sub Hunter Technology Adds Dipping Sonar in New Demo.
- Designed to listen for submarines using advanced acoustic technology, Leonardo’s ULISSES ensures that the sea is no place to hide
- The addition of the new Firefly dipping sonar system from L3Harris Technologies brings additional range and accuracy to the ULISSES package
- For the demo the combined system was installed on a naval vessel while an Italian Navy NH-90 supported by dispensing sonobuoys
Leonardo has recently proven the newly-expanded capabilities of its ULISSES acoustic anti-submarine warfare (ASW) system in a demonstration off the coast of Italy. During the demo, Leonardo showed how the Firefly, AQS-18, dipping sonar from L3Harris Technologies worked in concert with the ULISSES processor to automatically locate simulated enemy submarines and alert the crew to their presence.
The demonstration follows the successful integration of the Firefly dipping sonar with the ULISSES system. Firefly incorporates a high-powered active sonar which can dive down up to 200m below the sea surface and detect targets as far away as 20 miles while transmitting sonar and sonobuoy processing, audio and video to the shore via a wideband data link.
For the demo, the ULISSES and Firefly equipment was installed on a naval vessel while an Italian Navy NH-90 helicopter supported by dispensing sonobuoys during the trial. A key design feature of the ULISSES/Firefly system is its lightweight form factor, which can also be fitted to small, light helicopters for littoral operations. The integrated capabilities shown in the demo represent a solution to the growing requirement from armed forces to conduct ASW operations in blue and shallow waters.
Observers on-board the command ship were able to watch on an operator’s screen as ULISSES combined inputs from the Firefly dipping sonar with data from active and passive sonobuoys to automatically locate potential contacts and raise alerts. The ULISSES and Firefly systems offer ‘multistatic’ functionality where the processors collect and exploit data from up to 64 distributed dipping sonar and sonobuoy sensors, using the multiple sources of information to accurately triangulate the location of enemy submarines.
ULISSES was introduced to the market at Farnborough Air Show in 2018 and was successfully demonstrated in a live sea trial in November 2019. The system is now fully developed and talks are on-going with a range of potential launch customers.
The successor to Leonardo’s well-regarded OTS-90 acoustic system for Italian and Dutch NH-90 helicopters, ULISSES provides highly-advanced capabilities in an even more lightweight package. This makes it ideally suited to smaller helicopters and is designed as a form-fit replacement for the OTS-90, making it an attractive proposition for the retrofit market. The system is also suitable for fixed-wing aircraft, naval vessels and, without the dipping sonar, drone aircraft (Source: ASD Network)
23 Dec 20. Ferreting Around for Secrets. Published in the September/October 2020 Iue – Japan has experienced an increase in visits by Chinese and Russian ISR aircraft, but also has snoops of its own.
With the COVID-19 pandemic gripping the world, it is easy to forget that there is a ‘parallel’ world in which pre-March 2020 concerns remain unresolved. For the Asia-Pacific region this means continuing tension with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over its territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea (SCS); on-going border tensions between India and Pakistan and India and the PRC, as well as continuing uncertainty about the short and long term intensions of North Korea’s ‘Dear Leader’ Kim Jong-un (and increasingly sister Kim Yo-jong). Combine these considerations with the area’s geography and the economic and social effects of the pandemic itself and it is not hard to see that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities are to the fore and that air- and space-borne systems provide the best option for monitoring events in this vast region. It is with a sampling of the area’s airborne systems that the remainder of this article concerns itself.
One of the least known regional airborne ISR capabilities is that of the PRC. Here, the past 20 years has seen that country develop and deploy a range of ‘information gathering’ aircraft based on the Tupolev Tu-154 (possibly designated as the Tu-154M/D Type 1) and the Shaanxi Y-8 and Y-9 (designs that have been developed from the Russian An-12 transport) airframes. In order, the Tu-154 is understood to have entered service during 1998 and has been fielded in at least two variants. In the first instance, aircraft B-4108 was equipped with a ventral array of blister and teardrop radomes and was almost certainly a signals intelligence (SIGINT) platform. For their part, six other aircraft of this type have been fitted with a large ‘canoe’ fairing beneath their forward fuselages and have been variously described as being radar reconnaissance and/or a SIGINT platforms. Despite its age, the Chinese continue to utilise the Tu-154 for reconnaissance, with the Japanese Air Self-Defence Force (JASDF) having intercepted such a platform off the Japanese home islands as recently as January 2020.
The most modern of the Shaanxi-based systems is the one that is based on the company’s Y-9 airframe and which was first identified during October 2014. Externally, these new ‘special mission’ aircraft are characterised by an aft-facing fin-top radome; a possible satellite communications antenna fairing above its rear fuselage; six or seven blade aerials above its wing centre section and forward fuselage; a ventral radome beneath its forward fuselage; a prominent nose radome and pairs of lateral antenna ‘boxes’ arranged on either side of its forward and rear fuselage. Possibly bearing the local designation ‘GX-8’, a limited number of ‘ferret’ Y-9s are thought to have been supplied to the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy (PLAN) and have been intercepted by JASDF fighters approaching Japan’s air defence zone (ADZ) from 2016 onwards, with the latest example being spotted as late as early June 2020.
Visitors to Japan’s ADZ are not limited to manned aircraft – a Chinese unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was intercepted over the East China Sea – or just those aircraft belonging to the PRC. A variety of Russian aircraft (including Tu-142 and Ilyushin Il-38 maritime patrol and Il-20M and Tu-214R ‘ferret’ types) are fairly regular visitors to offshore Japan. For their own part (and aside from tactical reconnaissance assets), both the JASDF and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) operate small fleets of ‘snoopers’. In order, the JASDF operates a small force of YS-11EB derivatives of the twin-engined NAMC YS-11 airliner in the electronic reconnaissance role. Characterised by both dorsal and ventral antenna arrays, the JASDF’s quartet of YS-11EB are said to have been used to monitor Sino-Russian activity in the northwest Pacific and the Sea of Japan and are said to have been used to collect data on North Korean missile tests. As of the period 2019-20, the now ageing YS-11EB remained in service. Looking the future, a prototype ‘ferret’ based on Japan’s Kawasaki C-2 transport aircraft made its maiden flight in February 2018 and may be a precursor to a ‘production’ YS-11EB replacement.
For its part, the JMSDF operates an airborne maritime reconnaissance & SIGINT capability built around eight assorted Kawasaki EP-3 ‘ferret’ and Lockheed Martin OP-3C multi-sensor surveillance aircraft. In order, the EP-3’s baseline mission suite is logged as having comprised ‘low-’ (manufactured by NEC) and ‘high-band’ (manufactured by Mitsubishi) sub-systems, with a possible total frequency coverage of between 30MHz and 18/20GHz. Identified EP-3 usage includes regular monitoring of the Sea of Japan and the waters around the Japanese home island of Honshu’s western coastline together with ‘specials’ against targets such as North Korea’s nuclear programme.
The JMSDF’s second ‘surveillor’ (the OP-3C) is a perhaps even more exotic creature than the ‘ferreting’ EP-3. As far as can be ascertained, the service’s quartet of OP-3Cs are used to monitor ‘shipping of interest’ in the seas around Japan and are equipped with a mission suite that, over time, has included an electronic support (ES) system, at least one radar, the DB-110 electro-optic/infra-red (EO/IR) imaging system and an IR ‘search & track’ sub-system. As with the JASDF’s YS-11EB fleet, the JMSDF’s EP-3 and OP-3C aircraft are becoming ‘long in the tooth’ and as of 2018, it was being suggested that there was a wish to obtain replacements for both types of aircraft.
Mention of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes leads neatly to consideration of the Republic of Korea’s (RoK) recapitalisation of its ability to monitor its northern neighbour’s activities. Traditionally, the RoK has relied heavily on America to boost its airborne surveillance capability which is currently vested in tactical reconnaissance platforms and the ‘Peace Krypton’ and ‘Peace Pioneer’ programmes. In reverse order, the ‘Peace Pioneer’ RC-800SIG capability is vested in four Hawker 800XP business jets that have been modified to accommodate an L3Harris combined communications- and electronic intelligence suite that covers a range of frequency ranges up to and including the Ka-band (26.5 to 40GHz). The same airframe also forms the basis of the RoK’s four ‘Peace Krypton’ RC-800RA aircraft that are equipped with an X-band (8-12.5GHz) Lockheed Martin synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for ground surveillance. As of 2020, all eight of these aircraft were being reported as ‘being in service’, with (in July 2020) the ‘Peace Krypton’ aircraft being the subject of American approval for an estimated $250m RC-800RA follow-on support and equipment upgrade programme which, if consummated, will have Lockheed Martin as its ‘principle contractor’
The ‘Peace Paekdue’ RC-800RA is a radar-equipped Hawker 800XP business jet that is used by the RoK’s air force to monitor activity in North Korea.
As noted earlier, pre COVID-19 the RoK was in the process of a substantial recapitalisation effort that would both improve its available ISR capability and reduce reliance on its American ally. As part of this effort, the RoK has acquired a pair of Dassault Falcon 2000 business jets that have been modified to undertake both communications intelligence gathering and missile launch detection. Entering service during (it is thought) 2017/18, these Falcon 2000s are said to be discrete replacements for the ageing RC-800SIG aircraft. A similar lack of fanfare greeted the arrival of the RoK’s first Block 30 Northrop Grumman RQ-4B Global Hawk high-altitude, long endurance (HALE) UAV in late December 2019. Offering both EO/IR and radar imagery, the Global Hawk will provide South Korea with the ability to monitor its neighbours for extended periods of time and the type (together with its MQ-4C Triton maritime surveillance offspring) is becoming a major force in ISR provision in the Pacific region. In addition to the RoK, Australia is in the process of acquiring up to six MQ-4C platforms as a corner stone in its latest ISR plan while Japan is understood to have decided to procure three RQ-4s for delivery by September 2022. For its part (and as of May 2020), the United States Navy (USN) is reported to have deployed a pair of MQ-4Cs on Guam, while the United States Air Force (USAF) made its first RQ-4 rotation to Japan (specifically, Yokota Air Base) during late May 2020.
As noted earlier, the RQ-4B is equipped for EO/IR and radar imaging while the MQ-4C is optimised for maritime operations. Retaining the RQ-4’s airframe profile, the MQ-4C carries a mission suite that includes the X-band AN/ZPY-3 multi-function active sensor (MFAS) radar, an AN/ZLQ-1 ES system (with specific emitter identification), an MTS-B EO/IR imager (with auto-track), an automatic identification system (AIS) application and a communications package that includes Link 16. Again, the MQ-4C is quoted as having a maximum range of 9,950 nautical miles (18,427km) and as being able to stay aloft for up to 30 hours. In the specific Australian context, the combination of the updated Jindalee over-the-horizon radar, the MQ-4C, the Boeing P-8A maritime patrol aircraft and the E-7A airborne early warning platform should provide that country with an extremely capable
Hopefully, the foregoing will have given the reader at least a feel for current airborne ISR in the Asia-Pacific region. At the time of writing (August 2020), there was no reason to suppose that any of the described programmes were being cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 virus. This said, there is no doubt that the pandemic has caused grievous damage to the populations of almost all the countries in the region (particularly those of China, India and Australia) and it is almost certain that the economic effects of what is effectively the 21st century’s ‘Black Death’ will only serve to increase both tensions and the need to ‘see’ what competitor nations are up to. (Source: AMR)
23 Dec 20. Raytheon offers multiple-intelligence aircraft solution to meet RoKAF’s ISTAR requirement. In partnership with Korean Air and Bombardier, Raytheon Technologies announced on 22 December that it is formally offering a business jet-based multiple-intelligence (multi-int) surveillance aircraft to meet the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (RoKAF’s) requirement for an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR)-capable aerial system.
In partnership with Korean Air and Bombardier, Raytheon Technologies announced on 22 December that it is formally offering a business jet-based multi-int surveillance aircraft to meet the RoKAF’s ISTAR requirement. (Raytheon Technologies )
The company said in a statement that its ISTAR-K solution is based on a modified Bombardier Global 6500 business jet, with Korean Air providing its expertise in terms of design, maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrades.
The platform’s integrated ISR suite includes a “multimode active electronically scanned-array (AESA) radar, multispectral electro optical/infrared sensors, and signals intelligence suites to help operators make decisions”, noted Raytheon, adding that battle management command control will be integrated throughout the aircraft to enable interoperable communications with South Korean allies and partners.
“The RoK faces an increasingly complex security environment, requiring a multi-int approach and seamless integration with forces to manage threats. The ISTAR-K system will be designed to enable [the] RoKAF to monitor natural disasters, enforce maritime embargos, ensure border security, conduct ISR missions at long distances, and play a critical role in protecting the country from ballistic missile attacks,” said Raytheon, adding that the system has been designed to provide “a common operating picture that will give assurance to RoK commanders in the air and on the ground that they will make the right decisions”. (Source: Jane’s)
22 Dec 20. Britain has one last contract for its Sentinel spy planes: Breaking them up. The British Royal Air Force’s fleet of Sentinel battlefield and ground surveillance jets are officially heading for the scrapyard after the Ministry of Defence released a notice Dec. 22 seeking a company to break up the aircraft for spares.
The Defence Equipment Sales Authority, the arm of the MoD responsible for disposing of surplus equipment, said it was looking for companies interested in stripping five Sentinel R1 aircraft and two Sentry E-3D airborne early warning aircraft for spares and dismantling what remains.
The five Sentinel aircraft, a variant of the Bombardier Global Express business jet, were built at a cost of nearly £1bn (U.S. $1.3bn), with Raytheon UK leading the extensive modification of the aircraft.
The work to scrap the aircraft will be conducted at RAF Waddington – the service’s hub for all things related to intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) – and other sites around the U.K.
The notice said there is a significant number of associated inventory spares and ground support equipment available with the Sentinel.
The time scale for the work is not known, but the battlefield-surveillance aircraft is scheduled to go out of service early next year having earned plaudits wherever it served following its first operational sortie over Afghanistan in 2008.
The aircraft’s synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indicator have provided vital intelligence in places like Libya, Mali, Afghanistan, and most recently against Islamic State over Syria and Iraq.
The break-up notice brings to a close a 10-year squabble in the MoD to stop the premature curtailment of Sentinel operations.
As early as the 2010 strategic defense and security review (SDSR) the MoD sought to axe the capability, only to temporarily reprieve the jet five years later when the next review appeared in 2015.
The requirement for an expensive update of key systems proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Sentinel, though.
Howard Wheeldon, a consultant at Wheeldon Strategic Advisory, said the military should have found the cash for the modernization of the jet.
“That Sentinel required capability upgrading should not have been the reason for its premature withdrawal. ISTAR remains one, if not the most important, element of air power capability and taking a [capability] gap is unacceptable,” he said.
“The decision to scrap Sentinel capability is not only one of the worst that emerged out of SDSR 2015 but it is also the one that I believe the U.K. will most likely come to regret. The lack of such important capability, and with no imminent replacement in prospect, is dangerous and ill advised,” Wheeldon said.
The British are investing in new ISTAR capability like the Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, the Wedgetail airborne command and control platform, and the Protector long-endurance unmanned aircraft, but none of them are direct replacements for Sentinel capability.
“Britain’s reluctance to invest in Sentry capability over the past two decades typifies MoD failure in this sector. For NATO, which has become used to the U.K. being unable to meet its AWACS aircraft commitments for several years, the arrival of Wedgetail into the RAF fleet in a couple of years’ time cannot come a moment too soon,” said Wheeldon. (Source: Defense News)
24 Dec 20. Pentagon awards $2.5bn Spectrum Forward contract. The Department of Defense has awarded the National Spectrum Consortium its $2.5bn Spectrum Forward Other Transaction Agreement, designed to accelerate the development and eventual deployment of new technologies to the battlefield.
Under the five-year OTA, the National Spectrum Consortium will dole out funding for the rapid prototyping of advanced dual-use technologies that utilize the electromagnetic spectrum, including 5G, cloud computing, augmented reality, machine learning, beam forming and more. According to NSC, its members will be able to compete to “perform coordinated research and development projects designed to accelerate streamlining and upgrading of communications infrastructure, improving efficient spectrum utilization, and advancing microelectronics to enable protected and resilient networks.”
“An Other Transaction Agreement is the most effective method to enable rapid prototyping in the US Government,” said NSC Executive Director Tony Melita in a Dec. 16 statement. “By bringing industry, academia and the government together, the NSC will tackle the toughest spectrum-related technological challenges facing our nation and the world. We are excited and ready to continue the development of innovative dual-use technologies that support our war fighters and American jobs.”
The NSC already has nearly 400 members and has experience helping companies and academia work with the government on spectrum-based technologies. The consortium helped connect the Pentagon with partners to begin testing a variety of new 5G technologies on U.S. military bases, including augmented reality, smart warehouses and dynamic spectrum sharing.
“The United States has been the global leader in mobile technologies for decades,” said NSC Chairman Sal D’Itri. “Now, as 5G takes hold, we need to invest in the development of a new wave of capabilities that will once again redefine the technology landscape. On behalf of the NSC membership, we look forward to working the government, industry and academia to take on this challenge.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
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The Blighter electronic-scanning (e-scan) FMCW Doppler ground surveillance radar (GSR) is a unique patented product that provides robust intruder detection capabilities under the most difficult terrain and weather conditions. With no mechanical moving parts and 100% solid-state design, the Blighter radar family of products are extremely reliable and robust and require no routine maintenance for five years. The Blighter radar can operate over land and water rapidly searching for intruders as small a crawling person, kayaks and even low-flying objects. In its long-range modes the Blighter radar can rapidly scan an area in excess of 3,000 km² to ensure that intruders are detected, identified and intercepted before they reach critical areas.
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