ELTA Systems, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has won several contracts in the Caribbean to upgrade national coastal surveillance systems and provide radar systems to off-shore oil rigs.
The company announced that it was contracted by The Ministry of National Security of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to provide a full system upgrade and additional features and capabilities to the national Coastal Surveillance System.
The contract also includes a 3-year maintenance agreement.
The system, which provides comprehensive Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) picture and surveillance capabilities against maritime threats was initially deployed in 2008 and also covers the islands of St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Grenada.
According to a statement released by IAI, the system includes a National Coastal Surveillance Radar Center (NCSRC), radars, E/O cameras, Automatic Identification System (AIS), meteorological sensors and other supporting infrastructure.
The key sensor in the system is ELTA’s ELM-2226 Advance Coastal Surveillance Radars (ACSR) which detects all types of targets on the surface of the sea even under adverse sea conditions.
The ELM-2226 has a detection range of 20 nautical miles for rubber boats, 60 nautical miles for patrol craft and up to the radar horizon for large ships, IAI said.
The radars are designed with state-of-the-art solid-state Linear Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (LFMCW) transmission technology that offer enhanced efficiency and accuracy and can automatically detect and track more than 900 targets.
Since its deployment, the system has “achieved a successful operational record in preventing illegal activities from reaching the shores of the nation,” IAI said.
The new contract, which the company says “provides a substantial improvement” to the system includes upgrade of the Command and Control software, computers and servers and maintenance for the whole system.
ELTA was also awarded a contract to upgrade and provide additional features and capabilities to the Integrated Coastal Surveillance System belonging to the Government of Barbados. Like in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago, the system was deployed in 2008 and the contract will include upgrades to sensors, computers and servers as well as the Command and Control software including the communication network.
One of the features in the upgrade will be the capability to transmit an Maritime Situational Awareness picture from the National Command and Control Center (NCCC) to the coast guard vessels in real-time.
The company will also be supplying the ELM-2226 Advance Coastal Surveillance Radars (ACSR) to protect Mexican off-shore rigs and energy platforms after it was awarded the contract by Grupo KABAT, which provides high-end security solutions for governmental and commercial institutions in the Latin American country.
The contract will see the company supplying and deploying several radars and linking them to a central Command and Control (C2) center. The radar managed remotely from a central C2 center, and require a minimum crew to operate them.
“Protecting national assets was set as a high priority by the current Mexican government, and among these assets the country’s off-shore oil rigs rank high in importance,” IAI said..