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EUROPEAN RECONNAISSANCE RADAR FROM SOSTAR

By Karl Schwarz

Shortly before Christmas a European defence project which, although relatively small-scale from a financial point of view, is technologically very important got under way. Following final approval of the intergovernmental Memorandum of Understanding by the Budget Committee of the Bundestag, the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) awarded the contract for development, manufacture and testing of the SOSTAR-X demonstrator.

Euro 85.16 million has been made available with the aim of demonstrating a functional radar system for wide-area airborne ground surveillance, target tracking and designation by 2006. The best technical capabilities of the participating companies, Dornier GmbH (EADS, 28.2% share), Thales Systèmes Aeroportes (28.2%), FIAR (28.2%), Indra (10.4%) and Fokker (5%), are to flow into SOSTAR-X. According to Dr. Eugen Herpfer, General Manager of the Friedrichshafen-based Sostar GmbH joint venture, the project "will ensure the competitiveness and the related know-how for future surveillance systems". These could be deployed both on manned and unmanned airborne platforms.

The SOSTAR-X radar is based on gallium arsenide technology for the antenna with active electronic beam scanning. Both Dornier and Thales have experience in this area. The raw data will then be processed at three consoles installed in a Fokker 100. It will be sent by data link to the ground station for evaluation and further distribution of the radar images.

According to Dornier, SOSTAR (Stand-Off Surveillance and Target Acquisition Radar) meets the operational requirements for the NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) programme and will be offered to the NATO partners to cover their urgent reconnaissance requirement.

However, what will happen after the demonstrator phase is not yet clear. On the one hand the AGS requirement has already been around for nearly ten years without the funding needed for an international procurement programme having been put up. On the other hand, alternative systems exist which could also satisfy the requirement. Thus, Northrop Grumman is offering the NATO Advanced Transatlantic Radar (NATAR), based on the enhanced E-8-JointSTARS, in a version that would be installed on an Airbus. This proposal is supported by the USA, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Norway and Luxembourg.

It would be logical to pool all the resources. After all, EADS, for example, is already collaborating with Northrop Grumman in a number of areas. According to Dr. Stefan Zoller, Chairman of the Executive Board of Dornier and president of EADS Systems & Defence Electronics business unit, "Collaboration with the USA and US industry in a second phase is both possible and desirable".

From page 60 of FLUG REVUE 3/2002