UK Ministry of Defense awards 10-year, £270 million contract to BAE Systems to support radar systems for the Royal Navy
London, June 2023 – The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) today announced that it has awarded BAE Systems a 10-year contract worth £270 million to provide support for the Royal Navy’s three major radar systems: Artisan, Sampson and Long Range Radar (LRR).
BAE Systems’ radar systems are used extensively on all the Royal Navy’s major ships, from the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers to the Type 45 destroyers. These systems are designed and built by BAE Systems, one of the world’s leading defense companies.
The new support contract will replace several existing contracts, providing better value for money and allowing greater investment in the development of future technologies. Under this contract, BAE Systems engineers will provide maintenance and upgrades for existing radars, including the implementation of technology upgrades for systems already in use, as well as those being installed on the Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates, which the company is currently building in Glasgow.
In addition to the support contract, the MOD and BAE Systems are jointly investing a further £50 million to develop the next generation radar technology needed to address emerging threats such as ballistic missiles and drones. The MOD will contribute £37.5 million and BAE Systems will invest £12.5 million in research and development. This commitment aims to ensure that UK naval radar technology remains a leader in the global market.
Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge highlighted the importance of equipping the Armed Forces with the latest technology to meet emerging threats, saying, “By securing hundreds of jobs across the UK, this contract is a boost to the country’s supply chain and lets our adversaries know that we are equipped, prepared and ready.”
Scott Jamieson, Managing Director of Maritime Services at BAE Systems, expressed the importance of this contract to the development of UK radar technology, stating, “This contract secures a decade of investment in a critical capability for the UK armed forces. It also enables us to develop future radar technology with the MOD to maintain maritime air dominance and the UK’s vital air control development skills and experience.”
The support contract and joint investment secure around 400 highly skilled British jobs and underpin BAE Systems’ radar businesses in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight; Portsmouth, in Hampshire; Great Baddow, in Essex; and Hillend, near Edinburgh. In addition, the agreement will create support roles and positions in engineering and project management, as well as additional investment in the UK supply chain of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and high-tech suppliers.
The Sampson is the primary dedicated surveillance and tracking sensor on the Royal Navy’s Type 45 counter torpedo boats. It is fully software configurable and features adaptive digital beamforming techniques to combat interference generated by electronic countermeasures systems.
The Artisan is a software-driven radar that is in service with the Royal Navy on ships such as the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. Capable of detecting objects as small as a tennis ball and traveling at three times the speed of sound from more than 25 km away, the Artisan can monitor more than 900 objects simultaneously from 200 to 200,000 meters and cut through radio interference equivalent to 10,000 cell phone signals.
The S1850M is the Long Range Radar (LRR) component of the Main Anti-Aircraft Missile System used on Type 45 destroyers and the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers.