Sponsored by Blighter Surveillance Systems
www.blighter.com
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13 Dec 18. Blighter Surveillance Systems in Great Chesterford, Cambridge, UK, announced today the appointment of S-Connect, in Seoul, as its local manufacturing partner. Blighter Surveillance Systems has been active in Korea since 2008 and has already sold more than 100 radar units into the country including to the Republic of Korea Army to monitor the highly sensitive de-militarised zone (DMZ), a buffer zone which runs 250 km across the Korean peninsula and separates North and South Korea.
Mark Radford, CEO, Blighter Surveillance Systems, said: “The strategic partnership with S-Connect demonstrates our commitment to the Korean market and our desire to enable localisation of our radars for current and future security surveillance programmes in Korea. Having an experienced and competent in-country partner will also enable faster support to our growing base of customers.”
13 Dec 18. Elbit Systems aims to advance DIRCM portfolio. Israel’s Elbit Systems is seeing significant interest the Direct Infrared Countermeasure (DIRCM) market, as threats from man-portable air-defence systems (MANPADS) proliferate, and is investing in research towards fibre laser, threat processing, lens, and other technologies. At the start of 2017, NATO clients signed new procurement contracts with Elbit Systems for DIRCM systems for cargo, tanker, and special mission aircraft, with clients including Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway. Poland has also signed a procurement contract. The company expects to complete installation on the first aircraft from those NATO contracts in the first half of 2019, and it expects three to four new NATO clients to book contracts in the near future. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
13 Dec 18. FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLIR) today announced three Neutrino™ midwave infrared (MWIR) camera cores: the small, lightweight FLIR Neutrino LC and two FLIR Neutrino Performance series cores, the SX12 and QX. The latest models expand the FLIR Neutrino cooled camera core family for commercial, industrial, and defense original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and system integrators. The Neutrino LC is FLIR’s first High Operating Temperature (HOT) MWIR camera core and the first model in the SWaP+C (Size, Weight, Power, and Cost) series. As the smallest, lightest weight, and lowest power consuming Neutrino model available, the LC can be integrated with smaller drones and allow drone operators to fly longer. With HOT technology, Neutrino starts imaging two times faster than previous models, allowing optical gas imaging professionals to detect gases faster. Additionally, the Neutrino’s longer operational lifetime allows installation in security applications where maintenance access is restricted, difficult, or costly. The two new Neutrino Performance series products, the Neutrino SX12 and the Neutrino QX, offer the highest-resolution MWIR performance from FLIR. The Neutrino SX12 produces high-definition (HD) thermal imaging video, while Neutrino QX, with more than 3.1 megapixels, is FLIR’s highest resolution MWIR core. Both Neutrino Performance models provide crisp imagery at long distances while maintaining a wide field of view and are ideal for ground-based or airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and counter-drone solutions.
“The three new Neutrino cooled camera cores offer significant technological advances, from setting a new bar for size, weight, power, cost, and lifetime, to offering the highest resolution for a midwave thermal camera in its class,” said Jim Cannon, President and CEO of FLIR Systems. “With common industry-standard interfaces, simple and powerful software controls, and technical support, the new Neutrino products empower OEMs to reduce product development risk and shorten time to deployment. The expanded Neutrino line opens opportunities for FLIR to help customers solve challenges, increase efficiencies, and save lives.”
The Neutrino SX12, QX, and LC are dual-use camera cores for commercial, industrial, and defense products and are classified under the U.S. Department of Commerce Export Administration Regulations as Export Control Classification Number 6A003.b.4.a. All new Neutrino models are available to order today.
13 Dec 18. Schiebel, in cooperation with ELTA Systems and Overwatch Imaging, integrated two new payloads for an active army exercise. The Australian Army conducted a two-week activity with the CAMCOPTER® S-100 Unmanned Air System (UAS) to gain further insights into future capabilities and payloads in support of Project Land 129-3. Specifically, they tested ELTA Systems’ state-of-the-art ELK-7065 Compact Airborne HF COMINT/DF 3D System during the first week, followed by Overwatch Imaging’s game-changing TK-5 Firewatch during the second week of the exercise. As the market leader in Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) UAS, the multi-payload capable S-100 offers a proven platform for military and civilian applications on land and at sea. It operates day and night, under adverse weather conditions and with a beyond line-of-sight capability of up to 200 km.
The combination of the CAMCOPTER® S-100 and the ELK-7065 offers a remarkably flexible high-frequency (HF) communications intelligence (COMINT) capability that provides rapid spectrum exploration, analysis and detection of advanced HF communication signals in real time and with off-line analysis tools. Furthermore, it is suitable to operate in harsh electromagnetic environments.
“The ELK-7065, integrated on the CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS, offers the essential capability of delivering time-critical intelligence in the most complex operational environments,” noted Chris Day, Chief Technical Officer for Schiebel. “This is increasingly important for military, para-military and civilian applications.”
Overwatch Imaging’s TK-5 Firewatch payload, which was tested during the second week of the exercise, bridges the gap between small drone mapping cameras and satellite mapping systems. The wide-area multi-band land mapping with automatic small object detection enables regional-scale applications in real time with optimal resolution. It includes color, near infrared (NIR) and temperature-calibrated thermal longwave infrared (LWIR) sensors that operate at the same time, including simultaneous on-board image processing. Integrated on the CAMCOPTER® S-100, it becomes an extremely powerful asset for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Director General of Aviation for the Australian Army, Brigadier John Fenwick, commented that, “The lease of the CAMCOPTER® S-100 and its advanced payloads is an important activity supporting Army’s understanding of UAS capabilities. We will continue to explore all options to keep the Australian Army at the forefront of new technologies.”
10 Dec 18. Thales to deliver STIR-radars for French Navy frigates. Thales has been awarded a contract by the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) to provide new gun and missile fire control radar for frigates. Under the contract, the company will deliver seven Thales STIR-radars for installation on French Navy frigates. From the total radars, five will be deployed on the future intermediate-size frigates (FTI), with the remaining two installed on FREDA-frigates. The all-weather STIR-radar features advanced stealth target tracking capability. It has been designed to ensure accuracy and reliability even when operating in high clutter environments and multipath conditions.
Thales sales manager Paul de Ceuninck van Capelle said: “With this project, Thales will deliver the fire control radar STIR to the most advanced frigate of one of world’s leading navies. The first delivery is scheduled first half 2020, and the following systems will be delivered in line with the shipbuilding programme.”
Belonging to the Thales Track radars family, STIR 1.2 EO Mk2 is the latest version of the gun and missile fire control system.
The dual-band STIR 1.2 EO Mk2 radar is equipped with a full EO suite for ECCM performance and a complete set of solid-state transmitters.
The system provides high-precision fire control for small to medium calibre guns and short-range missile systems, as well as optional continuous wave illumination for guidance of semi-active homing missiles.
Last year, the French Defence Ministry announced a contract attribution to Naval Group for the development and construction of five intermediate-size FTI frigates. The first frigate is expected to be delivered in 2023 and will enter active service in 2025. (Source: naval-technology.com)
10 Dec 18. DroneShield has today released an ASX announcement with regards to its teaming agreement with Thales. The announcement is as follows: DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”), a worldwide leader in counterdrone solutions, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Teaming Agreement (the “Agreement”) with Thales Programas De Electronica Y Comunicaciones S.A.U. (“Thales”) (a Spanish subsidiary of Thales S.A.), whereby Thales will utilise and promote DroneShield’s products in its defence and security contract bids in Spain involving counterdrone aspects. Thales S.A. (ENXTPA:HO) is one of the largest defence companies globally, with 65,000 employees, operations in 56 countries and a market capitalisation of approximately €15.8 bn. Thales in Spain combines its technology with the experience of 1,200 professionals distributed in 11 work centers in Spain, one in Turkey and one in Egypt.
Oleg Vornik, DroneShield’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Over the course of the recent year, we have made substantial progress with advancing our market penetration in NATO countries and in Spain in particular. This partnership with Thales builds on the work we have undertaken and couples it with Thales’ extensive market penetration in Spain, as well as it long-established brand and reputation in this market, in order to achieve a multiplier effect on our and Thales’ counterdrone efforts.”
10 Dec 18. India selects IAI/Elta Systems radar and EW suite for Tejas LCA Mk 1A. India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has signed a deal with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)/Elta Systems for 83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars and an equal number of electronic warfare (EW) suites to be fitted onto the Mk 1A variant of the indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). Industry sources told Jane’s that the deal for ELM-2052 fire control radars and pod-mounted ELL-8222WB (wide band) self-protection jamming pods was “quietly” signed in late October after IAI/Elta emerged as the lowest bidder for the two compatible systems. The IAI/Elta products were selected over systems fielded by rivals Thales and Saab, which had also responded to HAL’s December 2016 request for quotation for AESA radars and EW suites. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
10 Dec 18. Industry Offer for Eurofighter’s AESA Radar Production Due This Month. The industry consortium developing the new AESA radar for the Eurofighter is due to submit its offer for the production and retrofit of the Captor-E radar by the end of the month. The offer will be submitted to the NETMA, the program’s executive agency, and could be followed by a production order as early as mid-2019, according to the German defense ministry’s autumn report on armaments programs, released Dec. 7. NETMA – the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency – manages the two programs on behalf of the UK, Germany, Spain and Italian governments.
The Captor-E consortium is developing the AESA radar under a €1 bn contract awarded on Nov. 19, 2014, to Eurofighter Jadgflugzeug GmbH by NETMA, and completed hardware development in June, the report states. No production decision has yet been taken for the four partner countries, but as the Eurofighters to be delivered to Kuwait in late 2020 are to be the first with the AESA radar, initial production radars must be delivered in 2019. However, there have been delays in complex software development due to resource constraints, and their effects are being examined so the necessary mitigation steps can be worked out, the report adds. This means that the target date for retrofit of the Captor-E radar in German Eurofighters, while h aving been delayed to 2022, can nevertheless be realized. Updates to the Eurofighter program, including obsolescence elimination, development of the EURODASS, role adaptation, and integration of the METEOR missile) have added €585 m over the initial estimate, according to the report, while the AESA radar has added €78m to Germany’s costs. In order to cover the needs of the four nations, the radar’s development included a multi-channel receiver (MCR), and in September 2017 industry was asked to submit a related offer by the end of 2018. In the meantime, “The consequences of industry-indicated delays in the ongoing development of the AESA radar and the mitigation measures proposed by the industry must be thoroughly analyzed and critically assessed,” the report adds. The future of the program is complicated by the fact that, while Germany is complementing the ongoing development with a multi-channel receiver, the United Kingdom, on the other hand, continues to demand a new radar development which focuses on the application for electronic warfare.
“In terms of armament policy, key technologies in the field of reconnaissance sensors use German-developed and secured systems, the availability of which is of substantial security interest for the Federal Republic of Germany,” according to the report. “The shares in the development and manufacturing program of the AESA radar contribute to maintain national engineering and manufacturing capacity in this segment.” (Source: defense-aerospace.com)
09 Dec 18. Here’s the latest on Lockheed’s massive long-range anti-ballistic missile radar. Lockheed Martin is on schedule to deliver its massive solid-state Long-Range Discrimination Radar in 2020, according to executives who spoke Friday with reporters here. The radar, which is being developed and tested at Lockheed’s radar manufacturing facility in Moorestown for the Missile Defense Agency, is slated to be installed at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska. Construction on the facility began in September, according to a Lockheed press release. The radar achieved a major technical milestone in October when it successfully tracked a satellite using its hardware and software working in conjunction. Ultimately the radar will be used in conjunction with ground-based interceptors to defend the U.S. from ballistic missile attacks. The technology that is going into LRDR is opening up new lines of business for Lockheed, said Chandra Marshall, the LRDR program director.
“Not every application needs to be the size of LRDR, so it’s scalable from both a hardware and software perspective,” Marshall said.
The radar destined for Japan’s AEGIS Ashore installation is a scaled-down version of LRDR, Marshall said. It’s also technology Lockheed is hoping to bring to the new homeland defense radar in Hawaii, which should be awarded in the coming days.
Lockheed has developed the radar and the software concurrently, Marshall said, which has sped up fielding.
One of the key advantages of the radar, which is about 25-times larger than a AN/SPY-1 array, is that it can be maintained and fixed without bringing the array down.
“One of the unique things about this radar is the high availability,” Marshall said. “Unlike some radars in the field today, you can actually maintain the radar while it’s operating. You don’t have to interrupt the mission to maintain it.”
Lockheed accomplishes this by building the massive radar on a series of self-contained transmitter and receiver units that are grouped in blocks, which are in turn connected to a breaker. So if one unit in a block needs replacing, you can shut down a small section of the radar and switch it out while the rest of the radar continues to radiate.
The announcement for the Hawaii homeland defense radar should come in December, Marshall said.
“It … leverages everything that we’ve done for LRDR and improves on it based on the different threats that we have to attack for HRD-H,” Marshall said.
If Lockheed can secure the HDR-H contract, it could mean two more contracts for homeland defense radars down the line. Lockheed is competing with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon for the contract that could be worth up to $4.1bn. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
10 Dec 18. DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO or DRO.AU) (“DroneShield” or the “Company”) advise that the U.S. Department of Defense Asymmetric Warfare Group at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia has evaluated DroneShield’s products DroneSentry™ and DroneGun Tactical™ at an event facilitated by the Army Night Vision Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) Unique Mission Cell (UMC). DroneShield’s successful deployment at that event included:
- participation in seven experimental scenarios,
- detection and tracking of multiple UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) via combined radiofrequency (RF) and radar detection of DroneShield’s DroneSentry™ platform;
- provision of real-time battlefield intelligence of mock-threat drones to fielded experimental participants through TAK/ATAK integration (ATAK, or Android Tactical Assault Kit, is a major software platform used by the U.S. military); and
- enabling the “Blue Force” (friendly forces) command to negate mock-threat drones through the use of our DroneGun Tactical™ and DroneCannon™ systems.
This follows DroneShield’s recent successful participation in the Autonomous Warrior 2018 exercise with the UK military, using its DroneSentinel™ platform.
Oleg Vornik, DroneShield’s CEO, commented “The U.S. and UK military trials continue to cement DroneShield’s leadership in the counterdrone space, as those and numerous other global end-users continue to seek counterdrone solutions to combat the rapidly escalating and constantly evolving drone threat.”
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Blighter® Surveillance Systems (BSS) is a UK-based electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider delivering an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter electronic-scanning radars, cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) technology with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability. Blighter Surveillance Systems is a Plextek Group company, a leading British design house and technology innovator, and is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.
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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