23 September 2022
by Olivia Savage
RBSL selects Elbit Systems UK ELAWS protection system for Challenger 3. (RBSL)
Elbit Systems UK (ESUK) will deliver its laser protection system for Challenger 3 main battle tanks (MBTs).
ESUK has been selected by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) to deliver 150 of its Laser Warning Systems (ELAWS) for the Challenger 3 (CR3) programme, ESUK announced on 22 September.
An ESUK spokesperson was unable to disclose further details regarding the subcontract.
ELAWS can detect, categorise, and accurately pinpoint laser sources such as from range finders, anti-tank guided missiles, target designators, and infrared illuminators. Providing 360° coverage, it can act as a standalone system or integrate with a wide range of countermeasures. The system can also detect and pinpoint radar and radio frequency sources.
RBSL was selected in May 2021 to lead the GBP800 million (USD901 million) contract to upgrade 148 Challenger 2 MBTs to the Challenger 3 standard.
As part of the programme, the Challenger 3 MBTs will receive a new welded turret with Rheinmetall's 120 mm L55A1 smoothbore main armament, a new active protection system, a new modular armour, a versatile turret, and a suite of modern sighting systems.
14 March 2024
by Akhil Kadidal
The Chinese PLA conducted air operation over the Western Pacific, in the vicinity of the Japan's southwestern islands and Taiwan on 9–10 and 12 March 2024. (Japan Ministry of Defense/Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/Janes)
The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducted a long-range operation over the Western Pacific with special mission and combat aircraft.
The operation, conducted over three days from 9 to 10 March and on 12 March, according to data from the Japan Ministry of Defense (MoD), was potentially an effort to gauge Japan's strengthening of air defences and military units on its southernmost islands, towards Taiwan. The air operations were also potentially part of an anti-access/aerial denial (A2/AD) drill.
According to MoD data, a PLA Shaanxi Aircraft Industry (Group) Corporation (SAIC) Y-8Q anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft operated about 230 n miles west of Taiwan and about 115 n miles south of Miyako-jima from “morning to afternoon”. On the following day, the same Y-8Q (no 61) conducted a larger patrol sweep from “morning to the afternoon” over the same area, the Japan MoD data added.
11 March 2024
by Ajay Shankar Pandey & Jeremy Binnie
The airborne SAR was displayed on the Iranian stand labelled as both the S-811 and the larger S-813. (Janes/Ajay Shankar Pandey)
Iran displayed a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that it has developed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during the DIMDEX 2024 show held in Doha from 4 to 6 March.
The SAR has a monopulse flat-plate slotted-array antenna and was labelled as both the S-811 and S-813, with Iranian officials refusing to identify which one it was.
An Arabic-language brochure provided details of both types, saying they can provide high-resolution images at long ranges in all light and weather conditions. It also claimed they have ground moving target indicator (GMTI) and micro-motion target indication (MMTI) modes.
Weighing 40 kg and drawing 500 W of power, the S-811 is the smaller one and was said to have a maximum detection range of 40 km, a resolution of 1 or 2 m, and a swath width of 1–5 km.
07 March 2024
by Richard Scott
A GQM-163 Coyote target overflies a mobile ship target. (Orbital Sciences)
The US Navy (USN) is looking to expand the kinematic envelope of the GQM-163A Coyote supersonic aerial target to enable more stressing and realistic threat representations.
US Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR's) Aerial Targets program office (PMA-208) in February issued a pre-solicitation of its intent to contract Northrop Grumman for a 12-month study to increase the target's performance envelope. A contract award is anticipated in the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2025.
PMA-208 programme manager Greg Crewse told Janes on 4 March that the programme was seeking “a system-level solution that provides the [GQM-163A] vehicle with [a] higher cruise altitude, a steeper dive angle, vertical/combined manoeuvres, and a greater lateral acceleration capability”. He added that the enhancements package – intended to enhance testing of various ship self-defence systems – was “open to alternative propulsion systems”.
PMA-208 also confirmed that it approved the capability to employ chaff with the GQM-163A during FY 2023, intended to increase complexity presentation.
Elbit Systems UK (ESUK) will deliver its laser protection system for Challenger 3 main battle tanks ...
In this podcast we revisit the conflict in Israel -Gaza. We explain how using open source intelligence and applying Janes tradecraft allows us to track the situation, its actors, the equipment being used and the implications on neighbouring cou...
Listen now