Defense Technology International - January/February 2008 - (Page 22) DISPATCHES GLOBAL ISRAEL AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES for IAI-Elta’s AEW division, says there were “several key elements” in this rapid deployment. CAEW is IAIElta’s third AEW system since the mid1990s. There is also a “real integrated product team” for all elements of the system, all developed within Elta. IAIElta completed a high-fidelity developmental simulator in 2006, and this was used to train military operators in parallel with the flight test program. The CAEW system is based on four AESAs providing 360-deg. coverage. Large L-band AESAs are located on the fuselage sides. RF cables run through the window apertures, avoiding the need to recertify the pressure cabin. Nose and tail antennas operate in S-band: Higher frequency means more power to gain equivalent range, but makes it possible to get the same resolution within a smaller aperture. The radar is automated and software-driven. Compared with IAI-Elta’s 1995 system, the CAEW delivers the same power in 2.5 times less installed weight, has a 200-fold increase in general-purpose processing and a 3,000-fold increase in signal-processing speed. It is described as “4D” radar: every track includes the target’s three-dimensional co pi IAI-Elta’s Conformal AEW system provides 360-deg. coverage with four AESAs. position and Doppler information. The idea “is to track a fighter in a dogfight, over land clutter,” says Itzhakian. The CAEW is believed to be the first radar to use a technology known as “track before detect” (TBD). Discussed since the 1970s, TBD improves the ability of a radar to detect small targets. To eliminate false alarms, conventional radars have to set a clutter and noise threshold below which radar returns are ignored. In TBD, those returns are assembled into the equivalent of a God’seye picture and scanned for patterns that resemble target tracks. CAEW uses TBD to improve detection of small targets and reduce false alarms, without a large antenna or high power levels. The technique is also valuable in helping an AESA detect and track stealthy targets. Once TBD has indicated the location of a possible target, the AESA focuses more power on that area. CAEW has other important features. With high-speed data links—including line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight options—delivering 100-megabit/sec. data rates, a CAEW operator on the ground can use the system as effectively as an operator in the aircraft. Another unique feature is that CAEW is not a stand-alone system. Israel is creating a total airborne surveillance (TAS) system known as Nachson (Pioneer), which will combine CAEW with signals intelligence, and overland and maritime surveillance aircraft, based on the same G550 platform. Itzhakian explains that Israel can’t afford a single platform to do all these missions. The high-speed data links tie the systems into a network, building a to S EH lik A re A n th Se ef Pr as is liv Se co th ea er ILSmart Strategy. With ILS, Captain Johnson finds just what he needs to keep his troops ready. He researches parts data using ILS’ 1-Click Locator, instantly seeing if critical parts are available worldwide. Supplier contact details are provided, plus he can cross reference parts to NSNs, view MCRL, FLIS, Procurement History, Technical Characteristics, CAGE and CCR. So hard-to-find parts aren’t hard to find. Smart Strategy. That’s smart. That’s ILSmart. More Than The Sum Of The Parts ILSmart.com 22 ILS Govt DefTech 2c ad.indd 1 12/20/07 5:02:39 PM DT_01_01_2008_p20-23.indd 22 � 2554890069 CMYK 1/16/08 11:35:09 AM http://ILSmart.com
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