Australia and USA Collaborating on New Phased Array Radar

Australia's Ministry of Defence reports that Australia and the United States have joined forces by signing a joint agreement to further develop Australian active phased array radar technology. The total development cost is estimated to be approximately $30 million over three years.

Defence Minister Robert Hill said both countries will share the development costs, technical expertise and benefits of the CEAFAR (3D) active phased array radar. This technology is being developed by ACT electronics company CEA Technologies as part of Australia's bid to make its new Anzac-Class frigates survivable against supersonic cruise missiles, but it also has other military and civil applications on land and sea.

Senator Hill congratulated CEA Technologies and the Australian Ministry of Defence's Defence Materiel Organisation for the work done to bring about this joint project, and noted that "The program will allow further development of the CEA radar technology for possible use in medium to long range air warfare and ballistic missile defence. The technology can also be applied to smaller ships and other Australian Defence Force air surveillance assets... [and] also has potential to be used in a range of US programs including the Littoral Combat Ship and other new ship programs, land and land mobile programs, as well as replacing legacy systems on some US ships... We have a very close working relationship with the US Navy on this project, with US staff embedded in the project team."


CEC Concept : in order to be useful in long range air warfare and ballistic missile defense, these phased array radars would need to be integrated via systems like a more advanced and powerful form of CEA's CEAMOUNT hand-off/ uplink, or ideally by a more powerful integration with the U.S. Navy's Co-operative Engagement Capability (CEC).



CEC works especially well with the AEGIS radar & combat system, which will be present in Australia's new SEA 4000 Air Warfare Destroyers. Long-range intercept capabilility via advanced versions of the Standard (SM-2 Block III+) missile which Australia is already buying is also helpful, given CEC's ability to have advance ships help to track and engage threats beyond the firing ship's radar range.

Senator Hill said the program highlighted the Government's 2000 Defence White Paper commitment to support high technology projects, foster Australian industry's innovative use of advanced technologies and seek opportunities in the global market.

Source >> www.minister.defence.gov.au...