Supporting The Royal Navy's Medium Range Radar Capability

The radar has been selected by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide the next generation of medium range radar capability (MRR) for the majority of the current Royal Navy (RN) surface fleet and for the Future Aircraft Carriers (CVF). The contract is valued at £100M and has been awarded to BAE Systems Insyte as prime contractor.

The ARTISAN 3D Radar Team comprises BAE Systems, QinetiQ and Roke Manor Research and thus comprises the core of UK industry surface radar research. Roke has been selected as the Design Authority for the radars Electronic Protection Measures (EPM) and this latest contract builds on the companies long history in advanced antenna design and signal processing. Without EPM a radar remains vulnerable to jamming and their work will help ensure ARTISAN 3D continues to deliver its superior performance even in the most adverse of conditions.

Artisan 3D

ARTISAN 3D is a robust and significantly enhanced radar system which has greater functionality, improved performance and increased operational availability compared with existing E/F Band surveillance and target indication Type 996 radar.

ARTISAN 3D will replace the RN's legacy Type 996 surveillance and target indication radar, as well as subsuming the navigation Radar functionality currently provided by the Radar 1008. The new systems will be retrofitted to the Type 23 Frigates, amphibious assault ships (HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark) and to the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean between 2011 and 2015 during planned support periods. ARTISAN 3D will also be fitted, from build, to the two new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

David Salter, the Defence Account Executive at Roke said:

"Roke has been working in the field of digital adaptive beam forming for the last 30 years and it's great to see these EPM techniques being pulled through to provide real capability and which, ultimately, help keep our sailors safe. We have been working with BAE Systems in this area for many years and so I really believe the UK is getting value for money by building on a strong and proven technology base."

Captain Brian Archibald Royal Navy Integrated Project Team Leader for Short Range Air Defence, at MOD Defence Equipment and Support said:

"The MRR project will provide the Royal Navy with a long awaited and unrivalled improvement to its Medium Range Radar capability whilst also delivering enhanced system availability and best value-for-money to the taxpayer".

Guy Griffiths, managing director, BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies said,

"This contract builds on BAE Systems existing 60 year radar pedigree and demonstrates our ongoing ability to provide the RN with a highly capable and cost effective radar solution. The ARTISAN programme will allow us to further expand the ongoing operational partnering initiative and sensor coherence strategy between the Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems, aimed at enabling the MoD to realise the through life benefits of a common family of radar technologies"