IMSAR’s NSP-5ER airborne surveillance radar is now in service with a number of undisclosed customers

IMSAR has told Monch during the Association of the United States Army exhibition being held in Washington DC between 8 October and 10 October that the firm’s NSP-5ER Ku-band (13.4 gigahertz/GHz -14GHz/15.7GHz to 17.7GHz) and X-band (8.5GHz to 10.68GHz) airborne surveillance radar is now in service. The product is installed on-board both inhabited aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and is flying with a number of undisclosed customers.

The radar is available in both Ku-band and X-band versions and boasts a detection range of up to 54 nautical miles (nm) (10 kilometres/km) according to the company’s official literature, with the radar’s GMTI (Ground Moving Target Indicator) mode providing an instrumented range of 10.7nm (20km), with the synthetic aperture radar mode offering a range of 23.7nm (44km) with one-metre (three-feet) resolution. The company did reveal that the radar has been tested on-board both Cessna 172 piston-engine and Beechcraft Super King Air C-200 turboprop platforms, and adds that the sensor can equip a wide range of medium-altitude, long-endurance UAVs. In terms of the radar’s architecture, it uses a phased array and is software configurable, employing a Ka-band data link to share radar imagery with users on the ground. Company officials added that it envisages the NSP-5ER being used for a range of tasks including counter-terror/homeland security Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) gathering missions, and also providing operational/theatre-level ISR to the manoeuvre commander.