• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

BAE SYSTEMS announces the world's first active, electronically-scanned array radar for helicopters

22 Jul 2002

BAE Systems has developed the world's first production Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar for helicopters. The Seaspray 7000E is being officially launched at the Farnborough International Air Show and is the latest in BAE Systems' highly successful family of Seaspray surveillance radars. The Seaspray 7000E is also suitable for uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) and light maritime patrol aircraft.

Seaspray 7000E provides genuine multi-mode performance in a much smaller volume and mass, with simplified installation and at a reduced cost, compared with equivalent mechanically scanned radar.

"This is a really exciting product", said Dr David Hughes, Executive Vice President, Helicopter Systems. "The development of Seaspray 7000E shows how BAE Systems is bringing together its world class technologies to provide the solutions that customers are demanding."

"Seaspray 7000E, not only offers enhanced radar target detection & tracking performance compared with existing mechanical systems, but also provides an order of magnitude improvement in reliability. The AESA technology together with the engineering implementation ensures that failures cause only graceful performance degradation, thus offering high operational availability. This order of magnitude improvement, in the mean time between critical failures, effectively makes Seaspray 7000E a fit and forget radar, massively reducing the requirement for spares holdings and test equipment, and significantly reducing cost of ownership."

A key consideration in introducing this product into the market, was the ability to offer customers a sensor solution with inherent flexibility and growth potential. By means of a software upgrade, the sensor can provide a wide range of extended surveillance modes, such as moving target indication and high resolution ground mapping or interface with the weapon system to provide missile target and guidance information.

Dr. Hughes continued: "Seaspray 7000E brings a level of capability and operational availability not previously available with this class of sensor. It's yet another example of the world beating helicopter avionics capability that BAE Systems is now able to bring to the market."
Overview of development

Seaspray 7000E is the outcome of the on-going product development activities of the Edinburgh-based Sensor Systems Division (SSD) of BAE Systems Avionics.

In the early 1990s SSD commenced two major activities that have now come together in the form of Seaspray 7000E. Firstly, SSD began the development of AESA Transmit Receive Module (TRM) technology, which provides the 'building blocks' that make up an AESA. Secondly, recognising the need to address the problems of obsolescence presented by the rate of development in the processing field, SSD started the Company-funded transformation of all its Seaspray radar processing into software and the development of an open architecture COTS processor to run it.

The processor development activity led to a production order from AgustaWestland for Seaspray radars incorporating this new unit, then designated Seaspray 3600, for an export Navy's Super Lynx 300s. These radars, now being delivered, use the capabilities of the new processor to provide the mission system processing for those aircraft, integrating the BAE Systems Titan 385 Electro Optical (EO) Turret and the Sky Guardian 2500 Electronic Support Measures (ESM) with the AgustaWestland glass cockpit multi-function displays (MFD).

BAE Systems then implemented the mechanically scanning AESA solution using the production TRMs, and married this with the production COTS processor to create the Seaspray 7000E.
Technical Overview

Seaspray 7000E comprises just two Line Replaceable Units easing installation and reducing volume and mass. The E-Processor and AESA scanner are typically at least 25% lighter than their mechanically scanned radar equivalents. Seaspray 7000E uses industry-standard interfaces to communicate with other mission sensors and avionics, and is controlled and displayed through the aircraft's Human/Machine Interface (HMI).

Seaspray 7000E modes and functionality are all implemented in software. The E- Processor's open and expandable architecture coupled with the availability of software source code to customers, provides built-in growth potential, obsolescence proofing and protection from hardware obsolescence.

Seaspray 7000E's highly flexible Direct Digital Synthesis generated digital pulse compression waveform supports optimised performance in all modes. The radar has been designed to function over the full spectrum of air, land and sea surveillance operational requirements. Seaspray 7000E provides small target and long range detection, target classification, using high resolution range profiling and Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging. The radar has weather and navigation modes, multiple target track-while-scan and a sensor fusion capability.

Optional modes include high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar ground mapping, Ground Moving Target Indication, air to air, Electronic Support Measures integration offering high accuracy angle of arrival information and Identification Friend or Foe integration. Seaspray 7000E features low probability of intercept coupled with a high gain antenna with low side lobe performance.

The E-Processor provides data and signal processing, radar system control, and interfacing with the AESA Scanner and mission sensors and avionics. The E-Processor has the capacity to operate as a mission system processor.

The processor produces high spectral purity waveforms and houses the wide dynamic range receiver circuitry. The processor uses an industry standard backplane, and incorporates the PowerPC data processing function. The AESA Scanner consists of a rotating array of multiple TRMs and radiating elements. The radar transmit and receive beams are created by the TRMs, which provide the amplification and amplitude and phase control of the microwave signals to and from the radiating elements. The radar scans electronically in elevation and mechanically and electronically in azimuth.
About Sensor Systems Division

BAE Systems Avionics, Sensor Systems Division has been at the forefront of airborne radar technology for over 50 years. SSD's achievements include the world's first monopulse radar in squadron service, with AI23 for the Lightning, and the combat proven Blue Vixen for the Sea Harrier F/A2. SSD is the prime contractor in the four-nation Euroradar consortium, responsible for the Eurofighter's Captor radar. In its latest development SSD has combined the E-scan modular technology with Seaspray's existing advanced, fully reprogrammable COTS Data and Signal Processor, to produce the Seaspray 7000E. Over 600 mechanically scanned Seaspray radars have been sold to operators of fixed and rotary wing aircraft worldwide.