British Aerospace Awarded Contract for World Beating Radar
British Aerospace Defence Systems has won a contract worth well in excess of £100 million to supply its world-beating SAMPSON multi-function radar as part of the advanced air defence system for the Royal Navy's new Type 45 destroyers. The project includes the full scale engineering development of SAMPSON, together with the production of the first of the twelve radars required for the overall programme.
The move follows the recent award to UKAMS - the 100% owned subsidiary of Matra BAe Dynamics - of the prime contract for the British variant of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) by the French procurement authority, the DGA, acting on behalf of the UK, French and Italian Ministries of Defence.
SAMPSON, which is the result of 20 years research and development by UK scientists, is vastly more powerful than existing systems, can handle multiple threats simultaneously and is immune from jamming. Its advanced design allows the single radar system to perform several tasks, such as surveillance and tracking, which would otherwise require a number of separate systems.
Radars based on active array technologies will progressively leave more traditional radar systems obsolete in a military environment of increasing uncertainty and more pressing threats.
Clive Dolan, Managing Director of British Aerospace's Land & Sea Systems, said: "This is a key contract for the future evolution of the Royal Navy's air defences for the next century and will be fulfilled within an exciting collaborative programme. It will enable British Aerospace to produce the world's most advanced naval radar system, to supply high performance variants of SAMPSON for other navies and to meet land-based roles such as ballistic missile defence".
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British Aerospace Awarded Contract for World Beating Radar
