Airbus Defence and Space has received two contracts, worth approximately $210m, from Australia’s new Capability, Acquisition and Sustainment Group to equip and support nine military and civil/military Australian airfields with the world’s newest and most powerful airport surveillance sensors.

The Airbus DS Australian Programme Office for delivery of these contracts will be located in the Williamtown Aerospace Centre (WAC). The Program Office will be based in the new building, which is under construction, at the entrance to Newcastle Airport and adjacent to the RAAF Base Williamtown.

Under the project ten Airport Surveillance Radar – Next Generation (ASR-NG) radars will provide enhanced input into the Australian National Air Traffic Management Surveillance picture and contribute to the achievement of Air Battle Management missions.

“ASR-NG provides outstanding performance for wide-area surveillance around airbases as well as safe guidance of individual aircraft during take-off and landing,” Thomas M√ºller, head of Airbus Defence and Space’s Electronics business line, said.

The system also includes the secondary radar MSSR 2000 I allowing for reliable individual identification of more than two thousand transponder-equipped aircraft at a time. Other key features of the ASR-NG are the proven ability to mitigate wind farm effects, and a significant increase of the primary radar’s detection range to 120 NM (220 km). Additionally, it provides a new 3D height measurement of the primary radar and is resistant to interference by 4G/LTE mobile phone signals.

Airbus Defence and Space supplies air traffic control and identification systems in the military and civilian sector worldwide.

Image | Peter Edwards (left) from Australia’s procurement authority Capability, Acquisition and Sustainment Group, and Rolf Wirtz, Head of Sensors and EW at Airbus DS, signing the ASR-NG contract.