On November 15, the Commonwealth announced that Canberra-based CEA Technologies would be providing radars for Army’s short-range ground-based air defence capability in a contract worth $137 million.
The vehicle-mounted radars will be adapted from Active Electronic Scanning Array (ASEA) radars, identified as a Sovereign Industrial Capability Priority for Defence, that are already in RAN service. They will be delivered in long- and short-range variants, with the short-range variant to be mounted on Thales Hawkei vehicles.
The Short-Range Ground Based Air Defence (SRGBAD) Capability being acquired under Land 19 Phase 7B is the inner layer of the land-based component of the Integrated Air and Missile Defence program, which is acquiring an enhanced version of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System (NASAMS) from Raytheon.
A Defence spokesperson confirmed further details of the contract to ADM, revealing that seven CEATAC and three CEAOPS radars will be delivered from Q3 in 2021. The program is aiming for Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in Q2 2023 and Final Operating Capability (FOC) in 2025.
No additional orders are planned, although the contract contains the option to purchase more.
The contract announcement means the CEATAC radar passed 12 months of risk mitigation activities that tested its technical compatibility with NASAMS.