Cassidian has demonstrated the performance of its newly developed SPEXER™ 2000 Coastal radar in an extensive series of real-scenario field tests that were carried out in France, South Africa and the Middle East. The radar is reported to have shown exceptional detection capabilities in the most difficult coastal terrain and weather conditions. In very rough seas and at distances up to 20 km, the radar reliably detected small and fast moving targets, even single pedestrians on the shore.
Elmar Compans, Head of Cassidian's Sensors & Electronic Warfare, said: "SPEXER 2000 Coastal is the worldwide first security radar using the latest radar technology of Active Electronically Scanning Array (AESA), which provides a multi-tasking and multi-mode capability and increases the detection and target assessment capability substantially. Therefore, one SPEXER 2000 Coastal can replace two or more conventional radars."
SPEXER 2000 Coastal is optimized for the surveillance of coastal areas and maritime infrastructure such as oil fields and harbours. With an instrumented range of 40 km, its high Doppler and velocity resolution and its high sea clutter suppression, it is able to detect, track and classify even very small and slowly moving objects as well as fast objects such as speed boats.
Due to a unique signal processing architecture, the SPEXER 2000 Coastal is able to reliably detect sea, land and air targets. In addition, a camera mounted on top of the radar can be cued to the radar in order to identify suspicious objects. This ensures a superior surveillance performance and a high level of situational awareness providing security forces in a littoral environment with additional reaction time.
The SPEXER 2000 Coastal is part of the SPEXER security radar family which consists of several sensors, each optimized for specific applications in the fields of border, infrastructure, perimeter and coastal surveillance. A specific version for border surveillance, SPEXER™ 2000, is under production for a significant border surveillance system in the Middle East and a military version has been developed for the German Army.