Article Posted on : - Mar 30, 2012

The ADES system. A Thales photo

NEW DELHI (BNS): French aerospace company Thales Friday presented its latest Air Defence Extended Solution (ADES) for ground based air defence at the ongoing Defexpo here.

ADES is a compact missile system that provides an integrated defence solution. It is designed to provide manoeuvring forces with a highly effective air defence against a variety of airborne threats.

ADES can be integrated on a tracked or wheeled chassis, with the power-operated turret equipped with the GM 60, 3D E/F band surveillance radar, 3D I/J band tracking radar and stabilized optronics package.

The surveillance radar has an instrument of range of up to 80 km, a maximum ceiling of 15 km and can be used while the vehicle is moving.

The tracking radar has an instrumented range of 30 km, with the dual target and missile tracking capability being used to control the VT1 surface-to-air missile (SAM) which has an effective range of up to 15 km.

A typical SAM fit would be two pods of four proven VT1s installed on each side of the turret. The original VT1 SAM is already in service in a number of countries, including Finland, France and Greece.

Inside the platform is the Engagement Control Station, which includes data processing equipment and two consoles, one for airspace management the other for the control of the SAM. To provide even more enhanced air defence coverage, ADES can also control the vertical launches of SAMS.