TPS-77 Surveillance Radar for World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm

LONDON: Lockheed Martin will deliver a long-range air surveillance radar system to the United Kingdom that overcomes sensor performance issues commonly caused by the rotating blades of wind turbines.

The advanced electronics of Lockheed Martin's TPS-77 radar mitigate interference, or "clutter," that commonly obscure radar targets in and around wind farms. The new radar system will provide reliable air defense surveillance capabilities for the U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) and allow the nation to move forward with aggressive plans to install some 924 turbines along England's east coast.

The radar will provide surveillance over five planned wind farms in the Greater Wash Strategic Area -- Sheringham Shoal, Race Bank, Dudgeon, Triton Knoll and Docking Shoal -- that are expected to generate more than 5,500 megawatts of sustainable power.
Under contract with Serco, Lockheed Martin will deliver this new TPS-77 system by November 2011. In the U.K., Serco has served as Lockheed Martin's in-country Contractor Logistic Support partner for the MoD's FPS-117, or Type 92 radars, delivering greater than 98 percent operational availability.
The TPS-77 radars' capabilities in "green" wind field environments has been demonstrated in tests at land-based wind farms near the company's outdoor test range in Cazenovia, NY, as well as in trials with the Horns Rev offshore wind farm in the North Sea. The radar itself is also highly energy-efficient, delivering top performance while using just half the power of comparable S-band radars.
The new TPS-77 radar system supports the goals of the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change to reduce fuel consumption. In 2009, the U.K. established the Low Carbon Transition Plan to reduce emissions 34 percent from 1990 levels by 2020. The plan calls for an 80 percent reduction by 2050. With more than 200 operational offshore wind farms, wind power is the nation's biggest renewable energy source. In 2008, the U.K. surpassed Denmark as the largest offshore wind generator in the world.
Lockheed Martin continually incorporates state of the art technology into its TPS-77 and FPS-117 family of ground-based radars," explained Carl Bannar, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Radar Systems business. "This investment allows us to provide new capabilities and enhanced performance for customers while leveraging the field proven architecture and 30 years of operational experience with our family of long range radars."
Lockheed Martin's TPS-77 is the latest configuration of the world's most successful 3-D solid-state radar design. This fixed site or transportable radar provides continuous high-quality 3-D surveillance on aircraft targets at ranges out to more than 250 nautical miles.

Lockheed Martin's TPS-77 shares a high degree of logistics commonality with the FPS-117 (Type 92) radar. Today, 33 TPS-77s and 134 FPS-117 systems are operational in 25 countries. Many have performed for years completely unmanned in remote areas, and in a wide range of operational environments.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.

Pakistani JF-17 A Thunder OR A Blunder

Pakistan has witnessed new defense acquisitions in this decade than any other, and in the center of it all is the new fighter which was designed by China with partial funding from Pakistan. It is formally known as JF-17 Thunder. When the fighter was in development, Pakistani online communities were jumping with excitement comparing it with its arch rival India’s modern combatants Su-30MKI, Mig-29S & Mirage-2000H. There were claims of it featuring western Radars and long range missiles, & Chinese ordering some due to its superior capabilities. But the reality is far from it. China having spent significant amount of money into a fighter which it is never going to use, most probably forced Pakistan to accept its avionics to offset some its development costs. Chinese who are known for their self reliance first and quality next, are further downgrading JF-17s capabilities with their poorly copy-pirated avionics. Along with their dubious weapons, any chance of JF

Pakistani F-16s Shoot Down RAF Eurofighter Typhoons During Air Combat Exercises In Turkey

Pakistani pilots flying modernised versions of the 1970s-vintage F-16 Falcon fighter have beaten the RAF's brand-new Eurofighter Typhoon superfighters during air combat exercises in Turkey, according to a Pakistani officer. Analysis: The RAF Typhoon, formerly known as the Eurofighter, should nonetheless have been vastly superior in air-to-air combat whether BVR or close in within visual range (WVR). The cripplingly expensive, long-delayed Eurofighter was specifically designed to address the defects of its predecessor the Tornado F3 – famously almost useless in close-in, dogfighting-style air combat. The Typhoon was meant to see off such deadly in-close threats as Soviet "Fulcrums" and "Flankers" using short-range missiles fired using helmet-mounted sight systems: such planes were thought well able to beat not just Tornados but F-16s in close fighting, and this expectation was borne out after the Cold War when the Luftwaffe inherite

India Planned Attack On Pak Navy Mehran Base To Kill Chinese Engineers

The terrorist attack on Karachi's Mehran Naval Station on May 22 was conceived and launched by India with the primary objective of killing the Chinese engineers present there, a Pakistani newspaper has claimed, citing 'informed sources'. Four to six Taliban terrorists had entered PNS Mehran on May 22, destroying two maritime surveillance aircraft and killing ten military personnel during their 17-hour siege of the naval air base. "India is the only country in the region that feels troubled by the Pakistan Navy, which had awfully beaten the Indian Navy in Operation Dwarka of 1965. Since then, it has been an earnest desire of India to harm the Pakistan Navy but it was perhaps not possible on the battle front, hence it struck the PNS Mehran," The News quoted sources as saying.

ASIAN DEFENCE

Search This Blog