Bagged up: revamped Cerberus mission system to look out from the Crowsnest

摘要

A technical approach that espouses evolution rather than revolution will underpin the mission suite being taken forward for the UK Royal Navy's (RN's) Crowsnest airborne surveillance and control (ASaC) capability. Thales UK was in May 2015 announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as the preferred radar and mission system supplier for the Crowsnest programme, being selected ahead of a rival proposal developed by Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems. The winning technical solution builds on the existing Cerberus mission system and associated Searchwater 2000 radar currently equipping the RN's fleet of Sea King ASaC.7 (SKASaC) helicopters. Indeed, it embodies an approach - albeit in a significantly updated form - that can trace its antecedents back to the airborne early warning (AEW) Sea King rapidly developed and deployed in the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands (Malvinas) conflict.