Cassidian’s new SPEXER 2000 Coastal radar proves unique detection capabilities in littoral waters
Cassidian, the defence and security division of EADS, has proven the superior performance of its newly developed SPEXER 2000 Coastal radar in an extensive series of real-scenario field tests.
In challenging test runs exerted last months in France, South Africa and the Middle East, the radar showed exceptional detection capabilities in difficult coastal, terrain and weather conditions. In very rough sea states and at distances up to 11 NM (20 km), the radar reliably detected small and slowly moving targets, even single swimmers and rubber dinghies.
“SPEXER 2000 Coastal is the worldwide first security radar using the latest radar technology of Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA) which provides a multi-tasking and multi-mode capability and increases the detection and target assessment capability substantially,” said Dr. Elmar Compans, Head of Cassidian’s Sensors & Electronic Warfare.
“Therefore, one SPEXER 2000 Coastal can replace two or more conventional radars.” In addition, the radar is compact, all-in-one and man-portable by two persons enabling temporary installations on a tripod. No cabinets and shelters are necessary.
SPEXER 2000 Coastal is optimised for the surveillance of coastal areas and maritime infrastructure such as oil fields, refineries and harbours.
With an instrumented range of 21.6 NM (40 km), its extraordinary doppler and velocity resolution as well as its high sea clutter suppression, it is able to detect, track and classify even very small and slowly moving objects, but also fast objects such as speed boats.
The company has highlighted the products regional relevance, and claims the radar is an optimal solution for the protection of harbours, industrial sites and offshore platforms.
“Terrorists frequently aim at high-value targets such as oil platforms or power plants”, explains Stefan Jock, Head of Cassidian’s Sales Security Radar, “making perimeter security a key concern.
In this area, radar provides a valuable complement to optical sensors because it is not affected by environmental conditions like rain or fog. Furthermore, radar is superior to optical sensors in that it provides accurate data of positioning and classification while scanning wide areas over long distances.”
Due to a unique signal processing architecture, the SPEXER 2000 Coastal is able to reliably detect sea, land and air targets. Hence, in case the scenario makes it necessary, the deployment of different sensors for simultaneous land and sea surveillance is not necessary any more.
In addition, a camera mounted on top of the radar can be cued to the radar in order to optically identify suspicious objects.
This ensures a superior surveillance performance and a high level of situational awareness providing security forces in a littoral environment with additional reaction time towards illicit intrusions.
The SPEXER 2000 Coastal is part of the SPEXER security radar family which consists of several sensors, each optimised for specific applications in the fields of border, infrastructure, perimeter and coastal surveillance.
A specific version for border surveillance, SPEXER 2000, is under production for a huge border surveillance system in the Middle East with more than 50 units already delivered. A military version has been developed for the German Army.
