BAVIATION Business Aviation News
Morocco has requested two GM 400 radars from Thales to intensify aerial surveillance of its territory. A notice was also sent to Congress late last month on the licenses, proposed commercial exporters, defense material exports including technical data and defense services for Morocco, France, Germany, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom in support of delivery, integration, Installation, commissioning, training, testing, maintenance, logistical support and repair of the AN / TPS 77 radar (Multi-Role Radar or MRR).
The emergence of these two different agreements shows so clearly that the Royal Air Force, which is responsible for air control and air defense within the Moroccan armed forces, is making a strong effort to improve radar coverage throughout Moroccan soil, in addition to modifying that acquired since the 1970s outdated radar systems. Some of them are still used in aerial surveillance, but with the rapid development of war systems in recent decades, it has become necessary to purchase radar systems with modern technologies. These include some like AESA’s electronic scanning, which is extremely resilient to most modern electronic combat techniques, as well as surveillance capabilities against targets with a very small radar signature such as drones, cruise missiles, and even airplanes. modern combat aircraft with minimal space requirements.
Some sources claim that the agreement on the Morocco-held AN / TPS 77 radars relates to the acquisition of 7 AN / TPS 77 radars from the US company Lockheed Martin to replace the old TPS 63 and 73 radars from to replace the seventies in Morocco. Morocco had previously acquired 3 GM 403 radar systems between 2013 and 2014, which were acquired in 2011 by the French group Thales Raytheon. In 2010 it also acquired 3 TPS-79 radar systems (Multi-Mission Surveillance Radar or MMSR) from the American company Lockheed. Martin, a mobile air surveillance radar with a range of 111 km.
The GM 403 is manufactured in France by the Thales Raytheon Systems group. It is a highly mobile three-dimensional surveillance radar with which targets up to 30 km can be detected. At altitude and with a maximum range of 470 km, any known threat can be tracked, from low-flying tactical aircraft to threats with a minimal radar cross-section, such as. B. cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The TPS-77 MRR uses gallium nitride (GaN) technology in its design, is designed for extremely low power consumption and is the most portable version of the successful TPS-77 product line from Lockheed Martin. The radar’s unique multi-function scanning technology allows the operator to select specific functions for the radar, e.g. B. Monitoring short or long range flights (including helicopter detection) in certain areas. The maximum range is 470 km, and the altitude is 30 km, features equivalent to those of the GM 403 mentioned above. (Mohmmed Halami, correspondent for the Edefa Group in North Africa)
Photo: TPS-77-MRR-Radar (Lockheed Martin)
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