The NATO Support nad Procurement Agency (NSPA) has awarded Indra with a contract for the renewal of the radar warning and self-protection controller system of the entire C295 (T.21) military transport aircraft of the 35th Spanish Air Force Wing. This will equip Spanish Air and Space Force aircraft with ALR-400 radar warning receiver and EW controller, allowing the Air and Space Force to detect adversary signals in real-time, to have a better analysis capability and a more accurate understanding of the situational awareness and safety of pilots and crews.
The 35th Spanish Air Force Wing will benefit from greater aircraft protection and capacity to carry out missions in conflict zones. NSPA enables over five hundred airborne platforms in 15 countries to operate with this warning system, which is part of NATO’s technology portfolio. This first ALR-400 equipment order,part of the outline agreement between NSPA and Indra, marks an important solution upgrade of the C295, which is one of the most versatile and robust medium tactical transport aircraft available. Through this contract, NSPA supports the Spanish Forces to use a system designed to cover all types of missions, from low altitude and close range to those of higher altitude and encounter distance.
In addition to detecting threats, the ALR-400 provides guidance on the transmitter position and the type of aircraft or radar the signal originates from. It is prepared to process complex waveforms, including doppler radars and state-of-the-art threats that can use sophisticated frequency agility and low probability of interception techniques to go undetected. The solution can also unmask weak signals that may be hidden behind stronger or nearby transmitters, and it can work in heavily saturated environments. The system can detect if the aircraft is attacked with electromagnetic guided missiles, and activate the necessary countermeasures to neutralize them.
The ALR-400 coordinates the aircraft’s complete self-protection suite, in addition to being a radar warning receiver, offering the capability to manage the electronic warfare system (EWM) with the same equipment, and controlling both the missile warning systems (MWS) and laser missile warning systems (LWS), as well as the dispensers of chaff and flares used as decoys. This type of equipment offers growth capabilities to integrate other warning systems such as hostile fire indicators (HFIs), state-of-the-art directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) or disturbance and deception radar electronic countermeasures (ECM).
