During a visit to Australia, Harriet Baldwin announced the intention to look at the feasibility of fitting the Australian CEAFAR radar on future British warships.

Alongside Australian Defence Minister Pyne, Harriet Baldwin announced the intention to look at the feasibility of fitting the Australian radar on future British warships.

The pair announced that a capability study to fit CEA Technologies CEAFAR radar to British ships will begin early next year at the second Australia/UK Defence Industry Dialogue in Adelaide.

CEAFAR is an active phased array radar with a microwave tile-based design. The combination of the microwave tile and the Digital Beam Forming backend provides a modular, programmable and scalable solution say the manufacturer.

Pyne said CEA Technologies designed and manufactured this advanced phased array radar for the eight Anzac Class Frigates as part of their Anti-Ship Missile Defence Upgrade Programme.

The government has also stipulated that Future Frigates will also be fitted with the CEA radar.

Australian Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne MP said the announcement was an important follow up to last week’s dialogue and showed the continuing strengthening of defence industry ties between the two countries:

“Australia and the United Kingdom have much that can be gained from increasing cooperation around defence industry. A great outcome of last week’s dialogue, announced today, is the possibility of the cutting edge Australian CEA radars being used for the future UK Warships. Canberra’s CEA Technologies designs and manufactures advanced phased array radars for our Navy’s eight Anzac Class Frigates as part of their Anti-Ship Missile Defence Upgrade Program and the recently announced Long Range Air Search Radar replacement.

The Turnbull Government has also mandated that Australia’s future frigates will have a CEA radar as one of its core capabilities. I’m excited by the possibility of sharing this great capability with one of our closest and oldest allies and the landmark export opportunity this presents for Australia’s burgeoning defence industry.”