MARITIME PATROL AIRCRAFT SENSORS & COMMUNICATIONS
ADJ reporter Tim Ripley regards maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) to be an essential tool for nations interested in monitoring and protecting their sea zones. They can produce a picture of what is happening in sea zones of interest.
MPA two characteristics are, firstly, to allow sensors, such as radar, to be elevated to high altitudes to give coverage over large expanses of oceans, and, secondly, MPA main advantage over ship-based helicopters is range and endurance, which allow to remain on station for up to 15 hours far from land.
It is claimed that modern information technology and sensor driven by computer have transformed MPA mission, allowing command and control systems to be purchased for a fraction of the cost.
Thales has, since early 1990s, developed the Airborne Maritime Situation Control System (AMASCOS) to address the growing MPA market segment, which is designed to integrate any combination of customer-specified sensors with tactical command and display subsystem. They have been selected by a number of countries in Europe, Asia and the ME.
AMASCOS is a scalable mission avionics suite, suitable for a range of airborne platforms. Has at its core a Tactical Command Subsystem (TCS) that performs correlation, association and fusion of data coming from onboard sensors and external data links. The Ocean Master I (X) band multi-mode surveillance radar, by Thales, is associated with AMASCOS, which has achieved its biggest success by Turkey.
Rivalling Thales and its AMASCOS system on the international stage is Selex Galileo"s Airborne Tactical Observation and Surveillance modular MPA mission suite (ATOS), selected for EEZ patrol. It is described as an advanced and flexible airborne integrated observation and surveillance system.
Selex Galileo has developed for customer requiring an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability an acoustic processing suite, known as GAMAS, comprising sonobuoy processor, a VH receiver and a digital recorder. It was selected for four new ATR72MP platforms to serve with the Italian Air Force.
Airbus Military is regarded as a major European player in the Airborne Maritime Mission System market. Has fitted its Fully Integrated Tactical System (FITS) to platform such as C-212, CN-235, C-295 and the P-3 Orion. The majority of FITS installations have gone on board the CN-235 platform used by Spain Air Force and the US Coast Guard"s new HC-144A maritime surveillance aircraft.
The MSS6000 maritime surveillance mission suite, by Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), supplies over 20 customers worldwide. Recent MSS 6000 sales have been focused on Baltic and Southeast Asia markets.
Field Aviation, Canada, has delivered three customised Bombardier Dash8 Q300 aircraft to meet airborne maritime surveillance requirements of the Swedish Coast Guard, under Project KBV501.
The information technology revolution is claimed to have affected current generation systems.
Maritime patrol aircraft sensors & communications
