PAS 2011: Selex Galileo seeks partner for short-range surveillance
Selex Galileo is looking to join forces with a fixed-wing platform provider to respond to increasing requirements for ‘short-range and small surveillance solutions’, officials have revealed.
According to Selex Galileo VP marketing and sales for radar and advanced targeting Bob Mason, the current operational environment is witnessing uplifts in requirements for ‘short-range and small surveillance solutions’.
‘There is a lot of interest in short-range and small surveillance solutions in preference to more complex and expensive UAS,’ he announced at a pre-Paris Air Show briefing.
To date, Selex Galileo has worked alongside Alenia Aeronautica and Beechcraft to install its Gabbiano radar family of products on board ATR 42MP and King Air 350 airframes. The systems have also been integrated onto Agusta Westland’s AW139 helicopter and an undisclosed UAV. However, Mason was not prepared to comment on which companies were involved in the ongoing discussions.
Describing how Selex Galileo was looking to integrate its sensor payloads onto a ‘small, two-engine plane’, complete with Gabbiano radar and EO/IR turret, Mason said: ‘We are talking to platform providers to sell the concept or [respond to] surveillance contracts with potential customers highlighted in Europe, the US and Far East.’
The Gabbiano radar family currently comprises the T20 and T200 and utilises the scanned X-Band for surveillance over land and maritime domains and can be nose or belly-mounted. As well as more traditional air-to-surface search modes, Gabbiano includes high-resolution Inverse SAR; sea moving target indicator; and GMTI.