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08 Jul 16. Saab Enhances Counter-UAV Abilities of Giraffe Radar. Saab has announced that it has made upgrades to the ability of its Giraffe surface radars to detect both UAVs and stealth-cloaked aircraft.
When a conventional military aircraft enters the range of most radar systems, the speed at which it is travelling, its altitude, and its size all make it readily identifiable.
But when an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) does the same, the situation is less clear-cut. Because UAVs are typically small in size and fly at low altitude and at low speeds, most radar systems struggle to distinguish them from birds, presenting a real threat to troops and other assets in the vicinity.
Saab’s Head of Surface Radars, Anders Linder, says it was this threat that prompted the development of Saab’s Enhanced Low, Slow and Small (ELSS) system, a capability that enables the company’s Giraffe range of air surveillance and air defence systems to distinguish between UAVs and birds with remarkable accuracy. “In the past, you might have seen 100 objects on a radar screen, and 99 of them were birds and one was a UAV,” says Linder. “So, we studied the flight patterns and behaviour of birds and developed algorithms and software that made it possible to identify the UAV.”
Linder says with the enormous growth in UAV-use in combat situations – both for surveillance and delivering weapon payloads – Saab’s ELSS technology brings significant benefits to armed forces who possess it. “If you are a commander on a ship or on the ground in a combat zone, you want to know if you are being observed,” he says. “Similarly, if you are in a camp and people are attacking you with UAVS carrying gas or bombs, you want to be able to take them down. By combining ELSS-equipped radar with a weapons system, you can have that capability.”
A Saab Giraffe 4A multifunction radar system featuring ELSS technology will be featured at the Saab Experience at the 2016 Farnborough International Airshow. Saab recently commenced serial production of the enhanced Giraffe range. Its Giraffe portfolio now includes the ground based long-range Giraffe 8A, as well as sea and land versions of the Giraffe 4A, the short-range Giraffe 1X and medium-range Giraffe AMB.
Linder says enhanced power and range mean Giraffe radars are now better equipped than ever to detect stealth-cloaked aircraft, and that they also feature industry-leading jamming resistance measures. (Source: UAS VISION/Unmanned Systems Technology)
07 Jul 16. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI), a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, tactical reconnaissance radars, and electro-optic and related mission system solutions, and Raytheon Deutschland GmbH, a leading manufacturer of airborne electronic warfare and sensor systems and airborne radars, today announced that they will integrate the Advanced Radar Detection System (ARDS) onto a GA-ASI Predator® B/MQ-9 Reaper®. A scalable Electronic Support Measure (ESM) system for passive radar monitoring, ARDS is designed and developed by Raytheon Deutschland on the basis of modules which are produced in Spain and in the UK.
“Adding an ELINT [Electronic Intelligence] role to Predator B by integrating ARDS will help our customers to map air defense radar threats in contested airspace, from stand-off distances,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI
The European-made ARDS provides passive, wide-area ELINT over land and sea and enables high-fidelity detection and direction-finding of RF emitters. The ARDS will be integrated into a standard pod that will be mounted on the centerline hard point of Predator B.
“Predator B is the ideal platform for our ARDS as it deploys the ELINT capability with significantly greater endurance at much lower cost per flight hour compared with other platforms,” said Andreas Radermac