Airbus Defence and Space has received two contracts worth approximately $195 million from Capability, Acquisition and Sustainment Group to equip and support nine military and civil/military airfields with new airport surveillance sensors.
Under the project Air 5431 Phase 2 – Fixed Defence Air Traffic Control Surveillance Sensors, 10 ASR-NG (Airport Surveillance Radar - Next Generation) radars will provide enhanced input into the Australian National Air Traffic Management Surveillance picture and contribute to the achievement of Air Battle Management missions.
Deliveries, including nine complete and one training system, are planned until the end 2020.
“ASR-NG provides outstanding performance for wide-area surveillance around airbases as well as safe guidance of individual aircraft during take-off and landing,” Thomas Müller, head of Airbus Defence and Space’s Electronics business line, said.
The system also includes the secondary radar MSSR 2000 I allowing for reliable individual identification of more than two thousand transponder-equipped aircraft at a time. Other key features of the ASR-NG are the proven ability to mitigate wind farm effects, and a significant increase of the primary radar’s detection range to 220 km. Additionally, it provides a new 3D height measurement of the primary radar and is resistant to interference by 4G/LTE mobile phone signals.
ASR-NG consists of a solid state primary radar using an advanced signal processing technology for medium and long-range air traffic surveillance. With its recently completed primary radar 3D height measurement capability, ASR-NG closes the gap between a Tactical Medium Range Air Surveillance Radar and a classical Air Traffic Control radar combining the operational advantages of both. With its detection capabilities for even slow flying or hovering helicopters above heavy clutter areas, ASR-NG meets operational needs for military air traffic and mission area control.
ASR-NG integrates with the MSSR 2000 I (Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar) secondary radar for automatic identification of individual cooperative aircraft. It meets the requirements for the military and highly encrypted identification ‘Mode 5’, as well as the civil air traffic control ‘Mode S’ and ‘ADS-B’ requirements, which greatly improve aircraft identification security and safety.