Frontier India Strategic and Defence - News, Analysis, Opinion

Written on August 16, 2008 – 7:38 am | by Frontier India Strategic and Defence |

EADS Defence & Security will provide Lockheed Martin with its proven TRS-3D naval radar in order to enhance situational awareness, and thus the security in littoral waters, for the U.S. Coast Guard’s “Deepwater” programme.

As reported by EADS Defence & Security (DS) , the company has received a follow-on order from Lockheed Martin’s Maritime Systems & Sensors business, valued at approx. 30 m € to supply the U.S. Coast Guard with the new radar, bringing the number of TRS-3D radars employed in the Deepwater programme to five. The TRS-3D is deployed on the new National Security Cutters specially designed for homeland security missions in offshore and littoral zones. Three radars have been delivered on time, with two more deliveries planned for end of 2008 and summer 2009. The procurement of more radars is envisaged according to the progress of the ship building programme.

The TRS-3D is a three-dimensional multimode naval radar for air and sea surveillance. It includes the ability to correlate target information with the MSSR 2000 I identification system for automatic identification of vessels and aircraft. With this order, the radar has been sold in 50 units worldwide; it is the most widely used naval radar in its class. Among the ships equipped are the new K130 corvettes of the German Navy, the “Squadron 2000″ patrol boats of the Finnish Navy and the Norwegian Coast Guard “Nordkapp” and “Svalbard” icebreakers.

The TRS-3D is available in different versions and can serve as a stand-alone radar for the special requirements of smaller ships operating in costal waters or as the main squadron and self-defence radar on frigates and larger ships. It is used for automatically locating and tracking all types of air and sea targets. Thanks to the latest signal processing technologies, the TRS-3D is particularly suited for the early detection of low flying or slow moving objects, such as helicopters, under extreme environmental conditions.

The Integrated Deepwater System Program intends to enhance the U.S. Coast Guard’s ability to counter new threats in littoral and port zones in an innovative approach upgrading existing assets and transitioning to newer, more capable platforms with improved command and control as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Under the Deepwater program, Lockheed Martin is providing the Coast Guard with an advanced, fully integrated command and control system and information network across all new and upgraded Deepwater cutters, aircraft and associated land-based facilities.