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  • SMART-L For Smart Defense?
    Posted by Nicholas Fiorenza 9:47 AM on Jun 27, 2012

    The Netherlands Defence Materiel Organization and Thales Nederland today signed an agreement to modify the four SMART-L long-range radars installed on the Royal Netherlands Navy's four De Zeven Provinciën class LCF air defense and command frigates.

    Thales Nederland photo

    Under the contract, the SMART-L radar will be optimized for the early detection of ballistic missiles. The range of the radars will be increased to over 1,000 kilometers and ballistic missiles will be able to be detected much faster, increasing reaction time.

    SMART-L will be able to detect ballistic missiles shortly after launch, an early warning capability it will combine with its traditional air defense capability. SMART-L will be able to detect and track several threats simultaneously and calculate each missile’s ballistic trajectory and estimate its point of impact and launch position. SMART-L is a volume search radar which scans wide areas of airspace to detect missiles without external cues.

    SMART-L is used by the British, Danish, French, German and Italian navies. Under NATO's Smart Defense initiative, the Netherlands is proposing that these navies upgrade their SMART-L radars for ballistic missile defense.

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