Fully Digital Family of Multi-Function Radar

Thales unveiled the GROUND FIRE family of digital multi-function radars at the Paris Air Show today. Designed to conduct air defence and surveillance missions simultaneously, the GROUND FIRE family meets the multi-functionality requirement perfectly, offering an unprecedented level of performance for both roles, according to the company.

The radars can simultaneously detect and track a comprehensive range of targets – including ballistic missiles – in 360° azimuth, up to 90° elevation and up to 400km range. The compact and rapidly deployable units (15 minutes into action) are also capable of guiding ASTER missiles in hostile environments such as rain, clutter and jamming.

Identical to the SEA FIRE family, which is destined to equip the future intermediate-sized frigates for the French Navy, GROUND FIRE units are based on a modular, scalable architecture: transmitter/receiver modules are all identical and interchangeable, facilitating series production and maintenance and enabling the scaling up of radar strength on demand by adding further modules.
Fully digital, mobile and transportable, rapidly deployable and operationally flexible, the GROUND FIRE family looks set to be a serious competitor in the increasingly active ground-based radar market.