The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has received a new integrated tactical intelligence system from Thales South Africa, as part of its Cytoon battlefield surveillance and mobile intelligence processing system programme, the Army Technology post reported.
Accordig to the Army Technology post, under the programme, SANDF has acquired a total of 14 Thales Squire ground surveillance radars, 65 Sophie thermal imagers, processors and communications equipment, as reported by Defence Web.
The system will be used by the South African Army Tactical Intelligence Corps to address various requirements such as tactical intelligence, homeland security and boarder surveillance operations.
The company’s spokesman at the 2011 Africa Aerospace and Defence exhibition in Cape Town said: “The system has been designed to address the exclusive intelligence requirements of the SANDF, and in doing so established a unique state-of-the-art intelligence gathering system.”
The intelligence system completed operational field tests with the South African Army Tactical Intelligence Corps in September 2011, says the Army Technology post.
“The system has been designed to address the exclusive intelligence requirements of the SANDF, and in doing so established a unique state-of-the-art intelligence gathering system.”
The company will also soon deliver a training system to support the specific training requirements of the South African Army Intelligence Formation.
Featuring the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) Doppler radar, the Squire is a portable medium-range ground surveillance radar that is designed to detect and identify people in camouflage at ranges of more than 10 kilometres and moving tank-sized vehicles distances from as far away as 48 kilometres.
The radar is integrated with automatic target classification facilities for persons, wheeled vehicles, tracked vehicles and helicopters, and cannot be detected by hostile electronic support measures (ESM) equipment and radar warning receivers.
The Sophie is a hand held thermal imager, capable of supporting long range surveillance and target acquisition missions in adverse battlefield conditions.
