Deal with Hensoldt expands Leonardo’s stake in Eurofighter radar business

ROME – Leonardo has won 260 million euros ($296 million) in Eurofighter radar work from Germany’s Hensoldt, meaning the Italian firm now has a major role in all three of the new e-scan radars being built for Typhoon customers.

The deal to work on radar upgrades for Spanish and German aircraft follows the closure of a Jan. 3 of a 606 million euro ($691m) deal which handed Leonardo a 25.1% stake in Hensoldt, a move the firm said would help it achieve leadership in Europe’s defense-electronics market.

The new contracts from Hensoldt cover work on the European Common Radar System Mk1 E-scan radar ordered by Germany and Spain to retrofit roughly 130 Eurofighters in the mid-2020s.

“Leonardo will conduct development work on new wideband capabilities and provide core parts of the new radar’s antenna, APSC (Antenna Power Supply & Control) and its processor,” the firm said in a statement.

Hensoldt is design authority on the radar and has supplied transmit/receive modules built in Germany, while Airbus will integrate the systems.

Leonardo will seek to develop ways to better exploit the German transmit/receive modules to beef up the ECRS Mk1′s detection range and accuracy.

The deal reflects Leonardo’s record on e-scan work in Europe: It is already design authority for the so-called Mk 0 radar ordered for 28 Kuwaiti and 24 Qatari Typhoons, which are built by the Euroradar consortium led by Leonardo UK teamed with Leonardo Italy, Spain’s Indra and Hensoldt.

The German and Spanish Mk 1 is in part based on development work carried out for Mk 0 by Euroradar.

Leonardo is also design authority for the Mk 2 version being developed for RAF Typhoons, which will be a step ahead of the German and Spanish version by offering wideband electronic-attack and electronic-warfare features.

Also new will be the ability to passively register emissions from targets and threats providing data that can be fused with data received by the Typhoon’s Defensive Aid Sub-System (DASS) and Pirate infra-red sensor.

The UK version, which Italy has now signed up to acquire, will also be able to transmit data, while modules will be soldered not screwed in to the face of the antenna, a move engineers believe will improve performance.

Leonardo said its new work with Hensoldt on the Mk 1 would “bolster Germany’s onshore combat air capabilities.”

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——莱昂纳多公司从德国亨索尔特公司赢得了价值 2.6 亿欧元（2.96 亿美元）的欧洲战斗机雷达项目，这意味着这家意大利公司现在在为台风战斗机客户建造的三款新型电子扫描雷达中都扮演着重要角色。

在1月3日完成一项价值6.06亿欧元（6.91亿美元）的交易后，莱昂纳多公司获得了亨索尔特公司25.1%的股份。该公司表示，此举将有助于其在欧洲国防电子市场取得领先地位。随后，该公司又与西班牙和德国的飞机达成了雷达升级方面的合作协议。

亨索尔特公司的新合同涵盖了德国和西班牙订购的欧洲通用雷达系统 Mk1 E 扫描雷达的工作，该雷达将在 2020 年代中期改装大约 130 架欧洲战斗机。

“莱昂纳多将开展新的宽带功能开发工作，并提供新型雷达天线、APSC（天线电源和控制）及其处理器的核心部件，”该公司在一份声明中表示。

亨索尔特是雷达的设计权威，并提供了在德国制造的发射/接收模块，而空客将负责集成这些系统。

莱昂纳多公司将寻求开发更好地利用德国发射/接收模块的方法，以增强 ECRS Mk1 的探测范围和精度。

该交易反映了莱昂纳多在欧洲电子扫描方面的记录：它已经是为科威特订购的 28 架台风战斗机和卡塔尔订购的 24 架台风战斗机设计的所谓 Mk 0 雷达的设计权威，这些战斗机由以英国莱昂纳多为首的 Euroradar 财团建造，该财团与意大利莱昂纳多、西班牙 Indra 和 Hensoldt 合作。

德国和西班牙的 Mk 1 型雷达部分基于 Euroradar 为 Mk 0 型雷达开展的研发工作。

莱昂纳多公司也是为英国皇家空军台风战斗机开发的 Mk 2 版本的设计权威，该版本将比德国和西班牙的版本更胜一筹，因为它提供了宽带电子攻击和电子战功能。

此外，还将新增被动记录目标和威胁排放的能力，提供可与台风防御辅助子系统 (DASS) 和海盗红外传感器接收的数据融合的数据。

英国版天线（意大利已签约采购）也将能够传输数据，其模块将采用焊接而非螺丝固定的方式安装在天线表面，工程师认为此举将提高性能。

莱昂纳多公司表示，与亨索尔特公司合作开发的 Mk 1 将“增强德国的陆上作战空中能力”。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。