Article Posted on : - Apr 24, 2015

PARIS (BNS): The Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Thales have announced their partnership for the service of four SMART-L Early Warning Capability (EWC) radars for the Royal Netherlands Navy, as well as service and delivery of two SMART-L EWC Ground Based systems (GB) for the Royal Netherlands Airforce.

From 2018 maintenance services of the four SMART-L EWC radars for the Air Defence- and Command Frigates will be carried out in cooperation with the Services and Maintenance Organization of the Royal Netherlands Navy (DMI), Thales said in a statement.

The Royal Netherlands Navy and its crews will perform regular on board maintenance. Thales will guarantee the availability of the necessary spare parts and will provide maintenance training together with the Navy.

The contracts for the two SMART-L EWC ground based versions for the Royal Netherlands Air force were closed in December 2014. These systems will replace the current Medium Power Radar systems that were commissioned in the 70's of the last century.

Like the naval versions, the new systems possess a unique combination of long distance surveillance radar with Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capabilities.

The two ground based systems come with a full Thales performance based logistics contract. Thales will be responsible for service and maintenance of these systems for 16 years.