Hyundai Heavy Industries contracts Kelvin Hughes for I Band and E/F Band radars

The Philippine Navy Frigate Acquisition Project (FAP) was awarded to Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in October 2016 to build two 2,600t frigates for hand over starting in 2020. Kelvin Hughes, a Hensoldt company, has recently announced it is to supply HHI two SharpEye navigation radars along with multifunction bridge radar displays for the Philippine Navy FAP.

This follows the announcement by Kelvin Hughes in September that HHI contracted the company to supply the Integrated Navigation Bridge System (INBS) for The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) Maritime Sustainment Capability (MSC) Vessel. “SharpEye is ideally suited to frigates, corvettes and OPVs operating in high clutter conditions and for navies undertaking modernisation programmes where the upmast equipment contributes to the stealth or RCS reduction requirements,” Mark Butler, Regional Sales Manager at Kelvin Hughes, said. “I am extremely pleased that Kelvin Hughes is working with HHI on this project.”

The new naval vessels for the Philippine Navy are expected to have enhanced survivability, seakeeping and manoeuvring capability and be operable in up to Sea State 5 and also have stealth characteristics. The vessels (hull numbers P159 and P160) will be further complemented by the low Radar Cross Section (RCS) design of the upmast SharpEye radar sensor carbon fibre housing and antenna turning unit. What’s more the reduced probability of intercept by ESM equipment characteristic inherent from the SharpEye’s 300W low power output further aligns to the requirements derived from the HHI HDF-3000 frigate design.

With its solid-state technology, SharpEye radar systems deliver an advanced pulse-compressed Doppler navigation and situational awareness capability that can provide early warning not only of the presence of larger vessels but also small targets and asymmetric threats with a low RCS such as RHIBs, small wooden boats, USVs and jet skis. Operating in I and E/F Band, the new radar will enable the ships to distinguish between genuine targets and environmental clutter even in the most adverse weather conditions.

With its solid state electronics, and therefore no magnetron, SharpEye is highly reliable and requires no routine maintenance. Moreover, with an upmast transceiver, there is no waveguide to compromise citadel integrity and signal loss is reduced.

DPM