Tornado - Future GR4 questions
Whatever happened to these lovely projects - which were being widely written about a year or two ago, but which seem to have been kicked into the long grass?:
1) TARDIS
"The GR 4 is to have a further cockpit upgrade consisting of a new Astronautics pilot's multifunction display and the BAE Systems TARDIS (Tornado advanced radar display and information system). The upgrade will enter service in 2009. As of late 2006, the GR4 fleet is being fitted with a new 12.8-inch Multi-function display in the rear cockpit to replace the circular Combined Radar and Projected Map Display (CRPMD): The BAE Systems Tornado Advanced Radar Display Information System (TARDIS) is an Active-matrix liquid crystal display.[11][12] TARDIS is currently being fitted to aircraft of the Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit (No. 41 Squadron RAF), before being fitted to all GR4 aircraft."
2) REFORGER
"Qinetiq is working on an AESA upgrade for the Tornado GR4 called Reforger, with a hoped-for ISD of soon after 2010."
3) ARTS and TREV
"Hence the recent announcement of this QinetiQ-led Advanced Radar Targeting System (ARTS) project. ARTS will explore the use of AESA and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in an air-to-surface role, including real-time target imaging, with a view to replacing the 1970s-era Decca Doppler Type 72 mechanically-scanned terrain following/ ground mapping radar system. The program represents the first use of the Tornado Research Exploitation Vehicle (TREV) concept, which is intended to support MoD’s aspiration to achieve faster exploitation of research by the front-line.
A combination of AESA multi-mode radar, SAR surface-looking radar and improved computing power for integration of sensor data should be able to radically improve the Tornado GR4’s situational awareness of both ground and air spaces around it. Range and target resolution should improve substantially, as should reliability figures; meanwhile, maintenance costs could be expected to drop sharply. When coupled with new weapons like the Storm Shadow stealth cruise missile, Meteor long-range air-air missile and the Brimstone anti-armor missile, an upgraded GR4 could earn a new lease on life over low-intensity and high-intensity battlefields alike.
QinetiQ has teamed on ARTS with SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems and BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support."
and
"The QinetiQ release notes that the Advanced Radar Targeting System (ARTS) contract was:
”...placed by the Defence Procurement Agency’s (DPA’s) Sensors, Avionics, Navigation and Air Electronic Warfare Integrated Project Team (SANS & Air EW IPT) on behalf of MoD’s Research Acquisition Organisation (RAO) as part of the Output 6 Research Programme sponsored by the DPA’s Future Business Group (FBG). ARTS will also be supported by the Defence Logistic Organisation’s (DLO’s) Tornado IPT. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) will provide MoD with independent technical advice on the programme.”
Simple, really. Oh, and:
“ARTS will run in parallel to the multi-national Advanced Multi-Mode Solid-State Airborne Radar (AMSAR) programmes and will focus on specific areas of capability development (SAR and Automatic Target Recognition (ATR)). ARTS will also focus on platform integration and aims to raise System Readiness Levels (SRLs). It is anticipated that AMSAR will continue to provide a programme through which to raise Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and explore the potential for AESA to contribute to other capability areas.”
Recall that AMSAR is the R&D project associated with the Eurofighter’s future AESA. So to sum up:
QinetiQ, BAE & SELEX are partnered on ARTS to make AESA and SAR work on GR4s in NCW. SANS & Air EW IPT placed this TREV contract on behalf of MoD’s RAO, as part of DPA’s FBG Output 6. DLO’s Tornado IPT and DSTL will also assist, and ARTS will run in parallel with AMSAR to raise SRLs.
All clear?"
"24 February 06
MOD awards contract to QinetiQ primed team to demonstrate Advanced Radar Targeting System (ARTS) on a Tornado GR4A
The Ministry of Defence has awarded a contract to QinetiQ to demonstrate the advanced targeting capability offered by Electronically Scanned (E-Scan) radar technology. QinetiQ has teamed with SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems and BAE Systems Customer Solutions & Support to integrate an Active Electronically-Scanned Array (AESA) on a Tornado GR4A for assessment by the RAF in 2007.
With growing interest in extending the in-service life of the GR4, the project will explore the use of Active E-Scan Array (AESA) and Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in an air-to-surface role, including real-time target imaging, with a view to replacing the installed mechanically-scanned terrain following/ground mapping radar system originally designed in the 1970s.
"We anticipate that ARTS will offer considerable improvements in performance and significantly help reduce maintenance cost when compared with the current in-service solution," explained Andrew Sleigh, MD of QinetiQ's defence business. "By replacing the mechanically scanned antenna with an array made using discrete transmit/receive (T/R) modules we can achieve greater range and target resolution whilst at the same time benefiting from an inherently more robust design."
ARTS benefits from a range of Ministry of Defence and UK industry funded research programmes in the fields of AESA and SAR technologies, and will provide a continuing route for the rapid exploitation of future research and development. The programme also represents the first use of the Tornado Research Exploitation Vehicle (TREV) concept that will support MoD's aspiration to achieve faster exploitation of research by the front-line.
The contract was placed by the Defence Procurement Agency's (DPA's) Sensors, Avionics, Navigation and Air Electronic Warfare Integrated Project Team (SANS & Air EW IPT) on behalf of MoD's Research Acquisition Organisation (RAO) as part of the Output 6 Research Programme sponsored by the DPA's Future Business Group (FBG). ARTS will also be supported by the Defence Logistic Organisation's (DLO's) Tornado IPT. Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) will provide MoD with independent technical advice on the programme.
ARTS will run in parallel to the multi-national Advanced Multi-Mode Solid-State Airborne Radar (AMSAR) programmes and will focus on specific areas of capability development (SAR and Automatic Target Recognition (ATR)). ARTS will also focus on platform integration and aims to raise System Readiness Levels (SRLs). It is anticipated that AMSAR will continue to provide a programme through which to raise Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) and explore the potential for AESA to contribute to other capability areas.
Press Officer: Douglas Millard"
and
"U.K. AESA Heads to U.S. For Trials
Aviation Week & Space Technology
10/08/2007, page 30
The British Royal Air Force plans to test a Tornado fitted with an AESA radar using U.S. ranges following successful flight trials in the U.K.
Tests flights of an active electronically scanned array radar on a Tornado GR4A aircraft were carried out from the Boscombe Down center during the summer. The program, dubbed the Advanced Radar Targeting System (ARTS), is being led by Qinetiq in collaboration with Selex. BAE Systems is also involved in providing some of the radar?s software.
The ARTS program remains sensitive, with the Defense Ministry reluctant to discuss the project in any detail. Unlike the multinational effort examining an AESA for the Eurofighter Typhoon, which similarly involves Selex, the ARTS program has so far been U.K.-only. ARTS, however, will also feed into U.K. aspirations to provide an AESA for the Typhoon. Initial flight trials of a Typhoon fitted with an electronically-scanned array ?variant? of its Captor radar were carried out earlier this year in Germany.
The AESA radar would form a key element of ministry interest in a further upgrade of the Tornado GR4A, known as Reforger. This would replace the aircraft?s aging Texas Instruments? terrain-following and ground-mapping systems. Reforger would be part of the ministry?s revised joint maintenance and capability enhancement program for the Tornado.
The proposed program may be limited to the GR4A, rather than the wider GR4 fleet, most likely on cost grounds. The air force has two squadrons of the GR4A operating in the tactical reconnaissance role.
The Tornado GR4 is due to be withdrawn from service in 2025. The air force faces the challenge of how to sustain the aircraft?s strike capability up until this date, and possibly beyond."