ADELAIDE, Australia (BulgarianMilitary.com), 10 September 2018, Editor: Galina Zdravkova, Photo credit: Saab

Saab Australia announced on 4th September 2018 that the company has received an important U.S. certification for the upgrade to the Australian Army’s short range air-defence system to the latest Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Mode 5 standard, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

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This certification allows the RBS 70 missile system to be safely deployed on operations with US and coalition forces. This is an important step forward, because this is the first certification work performed in Australia and the first Short Range Air Defence (SHORAD) certification outside of the United States.

The Mode 5 update ensures an enhanced way of identifying Australian, US and coalition combat units and thus the chance of blue-on-blue fratricide incidents is decreased.

The Project Manager at Saab Australia Trevor Bate underlined, “IFF Mode 5 ensures Australian ground-based air defence crews can participate in allied missions operating in shared airspaces confidently. Mode 5 is critical for knowing who is a friend and who isn’t in complex operational environments.”

The upgrade covers the three major components of the Australian Army’s SHORAD system supplied by Saab – the RBS 70 missile launcher, Giraffe AMB radar, and the Tactical Command and Control System (TaCCS). The latter was designed in Australia by Saab for analysing tracks from the Radar, allocating threats to one or more RBS 70s and providing queueing of the RBS 70 to the track.

Read more: Saab’s Situational Awareness System for the Royal Australian Navy

The Giraffe AMB radar is developed for advanced 3D surveillance and C3 functionality with early warning against multiple air threats, including incoming rocket, artillery and mortar rounds and thus ensuring better protection.

The certification activities were successfully carried out thanks to the mutual work of representatives of the Air 90 Project Office, Combat Systems SPO, Saab Australia Pty Ltd, and Saab Dynamics AB.

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