BAE Systems details Type-997 ARTISAN & SAMPSON S-band naval surveillance radars

Officials from BAE Systems have shared with MONCh that the company is looking at the potential future upgrade of its Type-997 ARTISAN and SAMPSON S-band (2.3 gigahertz/GHz to 2.5GHz/2.7GHz to 3.7GHz) naval surveillance radars. Both radars are in extensive use with the Royal Navy, the former equipping all members of the ‘Type-23/Duke’ class of frigates, the amphibious assault ships HMS Ocean and HMS Bulwark, and the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, and the latter furnishing the ‘Type-45/Daring’ class of destroyers. 

While emphasising that both radars remain highly capable and competitive in terms of performance, company officials stated that the ‘evolutionary’ design of both radars enables them to receive both hardware and software upgrades with relative ease throughout their service lives. They continued that there will be a need to perform a mid-life update of both radars in the future to ensure that they remain capable and to ‘future proof’ them against emerging threats.

For example, the SAMPSON radar can trace its lineage back to the Multi-Function Electronically Scanned Adaptive Radar-1 programme led by several British manufacturers which commenced in the early 1980s. While the ARTISAN is of a younger vintage, it too will require a refresh at some point in the future during its service life for the same reasons.

Tom Withington