HENSOLDT airport surveillance radars to be installed at six military airfields in Canada

HENSOLDT, the new Sensor House, is to equip six military airfields in Canada with the most powerful new generation airport surveillance radar (ASR) available currently. The programme consists of seven radar systems, including one training system, which are scheduled to be handed over in 2017. The company has successfully passed the fourth Site Acceptance Test of its radar.

Military and civil air traffic control

“Our ASR offers superior performance in both military and civil air traffic control,” said Thomas Müller, CEO of HENSOLDT which represents the former defence electronics business of Airbus. “Thus, it guarantees absolute reliability in controlling airspace and ensures that people can travel with utmost safety.”

Automatic identification of aircraft

Under a €50m contract awarded in 2013 by the procurement authority Public Services and Procurement Canada, the ASR systems will replace the radars which are used in military air traffic control. They will be used for approach control at the airfield itself and for airspace surveillance to safely separate military flight movements and civilian air traffic. The ASR is combined with the MSSR 2000 I (MSSR = Monopulse Secondary Surveillance Radar) secondary radar for automatic identification of individual aircraft. It meets the new air traffic control standards Mode 5, Mode S, and ADS-B, which greatly improve aircraft identification queries and are currently being introduced in military and civil airspace.

ASR-S airport surveillance radar

HENSOLDT supplies air traffic control and identification systems in the military and civilian sector worldwide. Amongst others, the company equipped the German Armed Forces’ airports with the ASR-S (Airport Surveillance Radar, S-Band) airport surveillance radar and delivers a complete approach control system for the military airfields in Switzerland. It has signed further contracts for its new ASR-NG for Australia and in the frame of the MARSHALL programme of the UK. In addition, the MSSR 2000 I secondary radar is deployed by the naval forces of Germany, France, Norway, and Finland for military friend-or-foe identification. For civil and military air traffic control, those identification systems are used in countries such as Germany, France, USA, UK, Bulgaria, and the Philippines.