Leonardo-Finmeccanica launches the new Osprey radar on the market, the latest in the company's wide range of electronic scanning systems (AESA - Active Electronically Scanned Array). Based on flat antenna technology, the Osprey is the world's first lightweight avionics radar for surveillance built with no moving parts. Launch client is Norway which, as part of the NAWSARH (Norway All Weather Search And
Rescue Helicopter), purchased 16 Leonardo-Finmeccanica AW101 helicopters in a particularly sophisticated configuration that includes the new radar.
The flat antenna technology on which the Osprey is based offers the possibility of installing a radar of this type even on small aircraft, such as small platforms and remotely piloted aircraft. This allows for a significant improvement in their effectiveness in surveillance missions such as border and territorial waters monitoring, control of the exclusive economic zone, countering illegal activities and for search and rescue tasks.
In the Norwegian configuration, the Osprey includes three flat antennas, one positioned at the front of the helicopter and two at the rear, creating, for the first time, a 360 degree field of view. Designed to meet minimum size requirements, the radar allows you to leave the lower part of the helicopter free, to maximize the machine's capabilities in case of rescue landings on difficult terrain.
The Osprey represents the latest frontier in the sector, as it uses a purely electronic technology to direct the radar beam, moving it from target to target in fractions of a second. Due to the speed of these movements, the radar offers effective simultaneous coverage in multiple directions.
The Osprey was designed and built in the UK at the Leonardo-Finmeccanica site in Edinburgh. The radar will be offered on the market alongside the electronic scanning systems of the Seaspray family, currently in service with the Royal Navy and with various export customers, including the United States Coast Guard.
In addition to surveillance radars, Leonardo-Finmeccanica is the European leader in shooting control avionics radars: it supplies the AESA system to Saab's Gripen NG fighter as well as leading the European consortium EuroRADAR to supply the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft with the current Captor-M mechanically scanning radar and, in the near future, the next generation Captor-E electronically scanning radar.
In Nerviano (MI), Leonardo-Finmeccanica also develops high-performance mechanical scanning radars: the Grifo and the Gabbiano, respectively for military and surveillance missions. Both radar systems are still in production and up to now over 400 Grifo and over 50 Gabbiano have been sold worldwide.
