The Taipan radar was accepted by the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery on June 28 at Larkhill Camp. 

It “offers the British Army rapid deployment and redeployment, high operational mobility, and precise counter-battery operations, locating an increased number of targets at greater range with reduced electronic warfare signatures, leveraging Saab’s Digital Antenna technology,” the company explained.

Mamba’s Replacement  

The Taipan is the intended replacement of Saab’s Mamba, which has been in service with the British Army since 2003.

In 2020, Saab upgraded the Mamba in 2020 under a 46-million-pound ($60 million) contract, extending its service life until 2026.

It is capable of locating artillery projectiles, rockets, and mortars from a distance of 50 kilometers (31 miles).

The Mamba features an active electronically scanned array to track incoming threats in three dimensions and is capable of handling more than 100 targets.

Project Serpens

The UK Ministry of Defence launched project Serpens in 2018 to replace a trio of weapon locating radars operable with the British Army: the Hostile Artillery Locating system, the AN/TPQ-49 lightweight counter-mortar radar, and the Mamba.

The project’s in-service date is 2026 with a retirement date of 2057. 

Like the Mamba, the other radars are completing their service in 2026.

“The team at Saab looks forward to continuing our support for the UK as it becomes the first user of the new Arthur current generation and next generation systems,” Group Managing Director Andy Fraser said.

Lt. Gen. Sir Andrew Gregory added: “Saab is our key partner for both Mamba and now Taipan and what it as a company has and continues to deliver to our Armed Forces is hugely impressive.”

“Mamba has more than proved its worth and Taipan is a step change in capability.” 

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Serenity uses acoustic and electro-optical sensors to locate heavy weapons and explosive detonations fired up to 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away in any direction.

The standalone equipment is mountable on aerostats and towers and can be integrated with additional wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) to maintain real-time surveillance over a 200-square-kilometer (77 square mile) area.

Upon detection, Serenity alerts a response force to react and neutralize threats. Logos said that the system relays fewer false positives compared to standard single-sensor hostile fire detection technology.

“This way, Serenity can cue the WAMI system to a particular area of interest-say, the location of an enemy mortar team-and then the WAMI system can track their movement across the battlefield, as well as ‘go back in time’ and discover their initial staging area,” Logos Technologies Business Development VP Doug Rombough stated.

Other Serenity Projects

The Fairfax company wrote that alongside the US Army, other military partners have recognized the utility of acquiring Serenity as their hostile fire protection capability.

“Given the ongoing success of Serenity in the field with US forces, there’s interest in having a rapidly deployable version that can be used by international forces,” Rombough said.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense’s Army Research Laboratory is conducting research to transform Serenity into a more compact solution and deploy it with a gyrocopter to utilize a surrogate unmanned aircraft system for future applications.

The post Elbit Subsidiary to Supply Hostile Fire Detection Systems to US Army appeared first on The Defense Post.

The Thales Nederland Ground Master 200 (GM200) multimission radar will be procured as part of project Serpens.

It supports various missions, including simultaneous weapon location and counter-battery activities, air surveillance, and air defense, according to Thales.

Its compact design provides high mobility, short deployment time, and ease of transportation.

“The procurement with the Netherlands will be undertaken under a new memorandum of understanding and will build on the GM200 sensor as part of a multinational NATO community,”  the UK Ministry of Defence stated in a notice.

Project Serpens

The 400-million-pound ($490 million) Serpens project seeks to deliver a suite of radar and sensor systems, integrating multiple current and future systems and sensors.

It includes deep find and close find radar systems and an integrated suite of acoustic and electro-optic passive sensors.

An interoperable and integrated digitized command and control system will also be acquired for the sensors, replacing the legacy standalone systems. 

Upgrading Legacy Systems

Serpens was launched in 2018 as London acknowledged the need to upgrade its aging weapon locating systems: the mobile artillery monitoring battlefield asset, the hostile artillery locating system, and the AN/TPQ-49 lightweight counter-mortar radar.

The systems are reportedly about 15 years old and are due to retire by 2026.

The new systems are expected to detect, recognize, identify, and locate incoming threats — such as rockets, artillery, and mortars — from a much greater range than the existing systems.

Initial operating capability is expected by 2029, and full operating capability three years later.

The British Army’s 1 Artillery Brigade and 1st Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Brigade will field the new capability.

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