Offshore Round 2 and Air Defence Radars What are the Solutions The MOD Perspective

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Offshore Round 2 and Air Defence Radars What
are the Solutions?The MOD Perspective
Wing Commander Nicky Loveday Directorate of
Counter Terrorism and UK Operations
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Scope

• UK Air Defence System - Mission
• The Concern - Offshore Round 2
• The Conclusions - Trials and Studies
• The Solutions - MODs Perspective
• The Roadmap
• Summary

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UK Air Defence System - Mission

• Maintain the Integrity of UK Airspace
• Air Surveillance and Policing responsibilities
• national and NATO tasks

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UK National and NATO Air Policing Area
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UK Air Defence System - Mission

• Maintain the Integrity of UK Airspace
• Air Surveillance and Policing responsibilities
• national and NATO tasks
• Support to training for aircrew in preparation
  for deployed operations

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Air DefenceRadar Safeguarded Sites
Saxa Vord
T92 Radar Buchan
T92 RadarBenbecula
T93 Radar Boulmer
T93 Radar Staxton Wold
T93 Radar Trimingham
T101 Radar Portreath
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Air Defence Radar PolicyExtant

• Concerns raised against all wind farm
  pre-planning applications if any of the turbines
  will be within radar (not optical) line of sight
• No range restriction
• Not retrospective
• Follow-on consultations actively encouraged
• Once concerns removed, any unforeseen impact will
  be managed by the Air Defence community

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Current Policy Implications (worst case)
Saxa Vord
T92 Radar Buchan
T92 RadarBenbecula
T93 Radar Boulmer
T93 Radar Staxton Wold
T93 Radar Trimingham
T101 Radar Portreath
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The Concern Proposed Round 2 Developments
BAE SYSTEMS INTEGRATED SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
(INSYTE) PROPRIETARY
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Indicative Low Level Radar Coverage
BAE SYSTEMS INTEGRATED SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
(INSYTE) PROPRIETARY
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Indicative Low Level Radar Coverage
BAE SYSTEMS INTEGRATED SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
(INSYTE) PROPRIETARY
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Agreed Roadmap with DTI/Industry

• Output of Round 2 Feasibility Study
• DTI-funded academic research to complement MODs
  practical trials
• Report will be published on the BWEA and DTI
  websites next week
• Output of Trial MISTRAL CROP
• Mitigation techniques identified
• Report issued to BWEA Aug 05
• Operational Risk Assessment and Air Defence Radar
  Policy review
• Earliest opportunity for decision on Air Defence
  concerns

Jul 05 Aug 05
Dec 05
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The MODs Conclusions

• Distance from the Air Defence radar is irrelevant
• Effect dependent on Radar Line of Sight
• Overhead Obscuration
• The effect of the turbines on the radar display
  is proportional to the ratio between the radar
  cross section of the turbines and of the aircraft
• Caused mainly by current signal processing
  techniques
• Clutter Maps and Background Averager
• Interference in Elevation Sidelobes compounds the
  effect
• Shadow Effect behind Turbines
• Greater loss behind turbines than in front
• Possibly linked to Background Averager processing
• Not due to pre-compression limiting (effect too
  small)
• Diffraction effect not operationally significant

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The MODs Conclusions

• Displayed Clutter
• Minor clutter returns
• Minimal operational impact following operator
  intervention
• No other observed effects on low-level coverage

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The Solutions?

• MOD Air Defence radar experts recommend that the
  following technical mitigation techniques are
  worthy of further investigation by the Developers
  and/or DTI
• Use of fine clutter maps (clutter map
  range/azimuth resolution equal to radar
  range/azimuth resolution)
• Adaptation of radar clutter-processing techniques
  to prevent detections in one radar beam adversely
  affecting the sensitivity of other beams
• Adaptation of the radars Background Averager to
  reduce the impact of large radar cross section
  objects ie turbines
• Use of an additional radar (employing electronic
  tilting of the beam (e-tilt)) as a gap-filler to
  mitigate loss of coverage

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A Near-Term Solution?




BAE SYSTEMS INTEGRATED SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
(INSYTE) PROPRIETARY
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The Solutions?

• MOD Air Defence radar experts recommend that the
  following technical mitigation techniques are
  worthy of further investigation by the Developers
  and/or DTI
• Use of fine clutter maps (clutter map
  range/azimuth resolution equal to radar
  range/azimuth resolution)
• Adaptation of radar clutter-processing techniques
  to prevent detections in one radar beam adversely
  affecting the sensitivity of other beams
• Adaptation of the radars Background Averager to
  reduce the impact of a large radar cross section
  object
• Use of an additional radar as a gap-filler to
  mitigate loss of coverage
• Reduction of the radar cross section of the
  turbines - stealth
• Use of optimised layouts for windfarms within
  line of sight of Air Defence radars

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Overall Conclusions

• .and now the really good news
• Technical and scientific advice is that the
  identified software mitigation techniques are
  expected to resolve
• the vast majority of extant offshore and onshore
  concerns from the Air Defence radar community
• all Air Defence radar proliferations concerns
• .but
• Highly likely that it will remain necessary to
  safeguard Air Defence radars at very close ranges
  (eg a keep out zone approx 5-10kms from the
  radar) to support the continued safe use of
  secondary search radar and ensure correct
  beam-forming of the primary search radar
• Further MOD trial work would be required to
  confirm the size of this small keep-out zone

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Revised Roadmap

• Output of Round 2 Feasibility Study
• Output of Trial MISTRAL CROP
• Output of MODs operational analysis
• Policy review no change at this stage
• External identification of resources to take any
  possible mitigation forward
• MOD Trial to validate additional sensor using
  e-tilt as interim or permanent solution

Jul 05 Aug 05 Oct
05
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Revised Roadmap - Recommendations

• Additional sensor/e-tilt validated as a
  operationally-acceptable solution
• DTI/Developers confirm commitment to providing a
  solution for Air Defence radar
• MOD remove 6 extant Air Defence radar Round 2
  objections
• DTI/Developers fund additional sensor
• or
• DTI/Developers fund technology demonstration and
  implementation of software mitigation techniques

By mid-Mar 06 Jul 06 -
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Summary

• MOD is highly confident that it has identified a
  range of effective technical mitigation solutions
  for the Air Defence radars
• Techniques believed to also provide a solution
  for the majority of onshore concerns
• Proliferation is not considered to be a factor if
  the software mitigation tools are implemented
• Current policy for raising Air Defence radar
  concerns expected to remain extant until
  mitigation solutions are implemented
• Once implemented, the policy is expected to be
  amended to only reflect a small keep-out zone

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Questions?