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Dutch to purchase new BMD-capable radars - IHS Jane's 360
The Netherland's Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 30 October its intention to replace its two Medium Power Radars (MPRs) with a ground-based version of the Thales Netherlands Smart-L Early Warning Capability (EWC) radars with a missile defence capability.
Currently one ageing Thomson-CSF ARES MPR is used by the Air Operations Control Station (AOCS) in Nieuw-Milligen, in the centre of the country, with a second in the North of the country near Wier functioning as backup. Replacement of the radars is planned to occur from 2017. No projected contract volume was disclosed by the MoD.
The MoD and Thales foresee contract signature occurring in the first quarter of 2015 at the latest.
The AOCS at Nieuw-Milligen provides coverage of all military and some civilian air traffic in Dutch airspace and the country's area of responsibility over the North Sea.
The MoD intends to plug the two new radars into NATO's Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) programme, created in 2005 to defend alliance and allied forces against ballistic missile threats.
The Royal Netherlands Navy's four De Zeven Provinciën-class frigates are currently being fitted out with the Extended Long-Range (ELR) version of the Smart-L 3-D long range radar giving the large volume search radar a maritime ballistic missile defence (BMD) capability.
Reportedly, the range of the Smart-L ELR/EWC is 2,000 km. A scenario circulates within the MoD in which one of its frigates is positioned in the Baltic Sea and one in the Mediterranean near Cyprus cover the whole of Europe against a ballistic missile-threat stemming from Iran.
One of the requirements of the new radar systems is "strategic relocatability".
ANALYSIS
In 2006 IHS Jane's was present at a test near Kauai of the ELR-version of the Smart-L radar on board HNLMS Tromp , during which the radar proved its ability to track an ARAV-B target-missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands over a large distance.
As became clear during the test in the Pacific, the Smart-L in BMD mode has to zoom in on a ballistic missile threat in order to track the warhead, and predict its trajectory and projected point of impact. The BMD mode thus seems to exclude the Smart-L from, at least temporarily, functioning as a volume search radar. This could then explain the desire for two radars, with second radar not merely acting as a back-up but as a prime search-radar. IHS Jane's put this to Thales, who were unwilling to discuss the radar's technical capabilities while contract negotiations were on going.
The Netherland's Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 30 October its intention to replace its two Medium Power Radars (MPRs) with a ground-based version of the Thales Netherlands Smart-L Early Warning Capability (EWC) radars with a missile defence capability.
Currently one ageing Thomson-CSF ARES MPR is used by the Air Operations Control Station (AOCS) in Nieuw-Milligen, in the centre of the country, with a second in the North of the country near Wier functioning as backup. Replacement of the radars is planned to occur from 2017. No projected contract volume was disclosed by the MoD.
The MoD and Thales foresee contract signature occurring in the first quarter of 2015 at the latest.
The AOCS at Nieuw-Milligen provides coverage of all military and some civilian air traffic in Dutch airspace and the country's area of responsibility over the North Sea.
The MoD intends to plug the two new radars into NATO's Active Layered Theatre Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) programme, created in 2005 to defend alliance and allied forces against ballistic missile threats.
The Royal Netherlands Navy's four De Zeven Provinciën-class frigates are currently being fitted out with the Extended Long-Range (ELR) version of the Smart-L 3-D long range radar giving the large volume search radar a maritime ballistic missile defence (BMD) capability.
Reportedly, the range of the Smart-L ELR/EWC is 2,000 km. A scenario circulates within the MoD in which one of its frigates is positioned in the Baltic Sea and one in the Mediterranean near Cyprus cover the whole of Europe against a ballistic missile-threat stemming from Iran.
One of the requirements of the new radar systems is "strategic relocatability".
ANALYSIS
In 2006 IHS Jane's was present at a test near Kauai of the ELR-version of the Smart-L radar on board HNLMS Tromp , during which the radar proved its ability to track an ARAV-B target-missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility Barking Sands over a large distance.
As became clear during the test in the Pacific, the Smart-L in BMD mode has to zoom in on a ballistic missile threat in order to track the warhead, and predict its trajectory and projected point of impact. The BMD mode thus seems to exclude the Smart-L from, at least temporarily, functioning as a volume search radar. This could then explain the desire for two radars, with second radar not merely acting as a back-up but as a prime search-radar. IHS Jane's put this to Thales, who were unwilling to discuss the radar's technical capabilities while contract negotiations were on going.
