Jura The idiot
General
On New Sea Giraffe Radar:
Posted on InsideDefense.com: June 6, 2014
Swedish defense and security company Saab recently rolled out its new Sea Giraffe 4A radar, an upgraded version of the unit carried aboard Austal's Independence-class variant of the Littoral Combat Ship, with an eye toward eventually deploying the system on the Navy's follow-on LCS platform.
The system is part of a new family of radar offerings Saab unveiled recently, and is based on new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology, Erik Smith, vice president and general manager of Saab Defense and Security, told ITN in a June 3 interview. The Sea Giraffe 4A is uniquely suited for the littoral environment, Smith emphasized, and would be an ideal choice for the Navy to field on any small surface combatant that will eventually follow the LCS.
The new long-range, multi-role radar is uniquely capable of simultaneous surface and air target engagement, and can track very small, highly maneuverable unmanned aerial systems in a maritime environment -- two capabilities the Navy is looking at for the follow-on platform, Smith said.
The Sea Giraffe 4A also supports the use of long-range surface-to-air missiles and operates well in a high-clutter environment, he added.
"We've taken what was basically a family of medium-range air-and-surface surveillance radars and now augmented it with an S-band family that now encompasses both the short-range mission and the long-range air-defense mission," Smith said. "We now are able to offer a full range of tactical -- what I'm going to call surface-based tactical radar capability for both naval and ground applications."
The radar is uniquely suited to the littoral environment, Smith said, because it was designed to excel in one of the most challenging littoral environments in the world: Sweden.
"Where you have other radars in this space that were designed for other missions that are now trying to be adapted for a littoral mission, this radar . . . was really designed in and for the world's most challenging littoral environments," Smith said.
"I think the fact that it can simultaneously discriminate and engage surface and air targets in high clutter environments, and its performance within those environments, sets it apart from other radars in this class," he continued.
Another perk for the Navy, should it choose to field the Sea Giraffe 4A, is that Saab has invested over $75 million in private funds into the new radar system, Smith said. The system is ready for production, and would save the Navy millions in research and development funds that the service would otherwise need to invest in a completely new radar system, Smith said. Saab's investment will continue to grow as the baseline develops, he added.
"So it allows the U.S. Navy in the case of LCS to avoid a significant radar development program by buying the radar that was already developed in Sweden and using Saab's U.S.-based capability to provide any modifications and adaptations to that system required to meet U.S.-specific requirements," Smith said.
The Sea Giraffe 4A would be built at Saab's Sensis unit in Syracuse, NY, he noted, where the company has a fully-instrumented radar test facility and a full staff of engineers focused on the radar system for multiple applications.
"When you combine the actual technical performance of this system with the fact that there is no development cost associated with it, that's a pretty strong value proposition for the Navy, I would say," Smith said.
All of Saab's radar systems are built to open architecture standards, Smith said, which increases supportability and drives down costs by maximizing the competition within the supply chain.
Smith declined to provide an estimate of what it would cost to install the Sea Giraffe 4A on a future small surface combatant, saying that the price tag would depend on the platform and the requirements of the customer.
The Sea Giraffe family is fielded by navies all over the world, Smith said, including the U.S., Australia and Poland. The new radar is already under contract to an international customer, he noted, although he declined to say which one. The system is slated for delivery to that customer in 2016, he said.
The Navy's small surface combatant task force, set up to develop proposals for an alternative to the LCS, is currently soliciting market information from industry to gauge the possibilities for a vessel that will meet the Pentagon and Navy capability requirements, ITN reported last month.
The service in May issued a request for information from industry on potential designs suited to the service's requirements for the future small surface combatant.
The task force is due to report out this summer, Smith said.
Although Smith said the Navy is "a ways away" from defining the requirements for an LCS follow-on platform, Saab will continue to work with the service to ensure that the company's operations "align as best as possible with what they are looking for."
Posted on InsideDefense.com: June 6, 2014
Swedish defense and security company Saab recently rolled out its new Sea Giraffe 4A radar, an upgraded version of the unit carried aboard Austal's Independence-class variant of the Littoral Combat Ship, with an eye toward eventually deploying the system on the Navy's follow-on LCS platform.
The system is part of a new family of radar offerings Saab unveiled recently, and is based on new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology, Erik Smith, vice president and general manager of Saab Defense and Security, told ITN in a June 3 interview. The Sea Giraffe 4A is uniquely suited for the littoral environment, Smith emphasized, and would be an ideal choice for the Navy to field on any small surface combatant that will eventually follow the LCS.
The new long-range, multi-role radar is uniquely capable of simultaneous surface and air target engagement, and can track very small, highly maneuverable unmanned aerial systems in a maritime environment -- two capabilities the Navy is looking at for the follow-on platform, Smith said.
The Sea Giraffe 4A also supports the use of long-range surface-to-air missiles and operates well in a high-clutter environment, he added.
"We've taken what was basically a family of medium-range air-and-surface surveillance radars and now augmented it with an S-band family that now encompasses both the short-range mission and the long-range air-defense mission," Smith said. "We now are able to offer a full range of tactical -- what I'm going to call surface-based tactical radar capability for both naval and ground applications."
The radar is uniquely suited to the littoral environment, Smith said, because it was designed to excel in one of the most challenging littoral environments in the world: Sweden.
"Where you have other radars in this space that were designed for other missions that are now trying to be adapted for a littoral mission, this radar . . . was really designed in and for the world's most challenging littoral environments," Smith said.
"I think the fact that it can simultaneously discriminate and engage surface and air targets in high clutter environments, and its performance within those environments, sets it apart from other radars in this class," he continued.
Another perk for the Navy, should it choose to field the Sea Giraffe 4A, is that Saab has invested over $75 million in private funds into the new radar system, Smith said. The system is ready for production, and would save the Navy millions in research and development funds that the service would otherwise need to invest in a completely new radar system, Smith said. Saab's investment will continue to grow as the baseline develops, he added.
"So it allows the U.S. Navy in the case of LCS to avoid a significant radar development program by buying the radar that was already developed in Sweden and using Saab's U.S.-based capability to provide any modifications and adaptations to that system required to meet U.S.-specific requirements," Smith said.
The Sea Giraffe 4A would be built at Saab's Sensis unit in Syracuse, NY, he noted, where the company has a fully-instrumented radar test facility and a full staff of engineers focused on the radar system for multiple applications.
"When you combine the actual technical performance of this system with the fact that there is no development cost associated with it, that's a pretty strong value proposition for the Navy, I would say," Smith said.
All of Saab's radar systems are built to open architecture standards, Smith said, which increases supportability and drives down costs by maximizing the competition within the supply chain.
Smith declined to provide an estimate of what it would cost to install the Sea Giraffe 4A on a future small surface combatant, saying that the price tag would depend on the platform and the requirements of the customer.
The Sea Giraffe family is fielded by navies all over the world, Smith said, including the U.S., Australia and Poland. The new radar is already under contract to an international customer, he noted, although he declined to say which one. The system is slated for delivery to that customer in 2016, he said.
The Navy's small surface combatant task force, set up to develop proposals for an alternative to the LCS, is currently soliciting market information from industry to gauge the possibilities for a vessel that will meet the Pentagon and Navy capability requirements, ITN reported last month.
The service in May issued a request for information from industry on potential designs suited to the service's requirements for the future small surface combatant.
The task force is due to report out this summer, Smith said.
Although Smith said the Navy is "a ways away" from defining the requirements for an LCS follow-on platform, Saab will continue to work with the service to ensure that the company's operations "align as best as possible with what they are looking for."
if you want to see them, use {click to expand +} option at 