The first of the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyers, HMS Daring, has set sail fitted with Thales' fully digital radar electronic support measures system.
The platform, the first of the Daring class, has been fitted with digital antennas supplied by the firm as part of the UAT MOD 2 update programme.
In conjunction with the MoD, Thales developed the direct RF sampling and wideband digital receiver for the antenna.
This joint development required a six-year, multi-million pound research programme," said Thales. "The technology provides excellent system performance in the modern dense radar envir¬o¬n¬¬ment and is capable of managing multiple, truly simultaneous signals. This enables the ship to operate in all operational maritime theatres, including the littoral, and provides the Navy with electronic warfare support and threat-identification technology."
By digitising at the antenna the majority of the receiver functionality is implemented as software and firmware algorithms, making more use of commercial off-the-shelf hardware, said Thales.
A second system, scheduled for HMS Diamond, is completing integration and factory acceptance testing.