Elbit Systems UK updated Army Technology on a range of different capabilities the company has to offer the British military and its allies in an exclusive media event.
This engagement constitutes a series of updates that will be published throughout this week.
One of these capabilities is the Ground Based Surveillance Radar (GBSR), which is deployed to detect threats at short and medium ranges on the front line.
GBSR can detect people up to five kilometres (km); light vehicles at 12km; main battle tanks at 25km; uncrewed systems as well as fixed-wing and rotary aircraft.
A single system comprises a radar head, a highly stable tripod, a ten-inch grid tablet or laptop.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) first procured the soldier-borne radar from Elbit at the end of May 2023. At present, the company is in the process of delivering 90 systems to the British Army before the end of this year, while some units are already deployed among the forces of some Nato countries, an Elbit spokesperson revealed.
Pending the MoD’s Strategic Defence Review, Elbit hinted at the possibility of the Army’s potential requirement for more of these tactical radar detection systems. This makes sense given that a technical expert advised that a fires team should ideally deploy five systems for coverage of 100-metres.
The service can pack a single system into two bags weighing no more than 18 kilogrammes. While Nato users requested Elbit Systems UK for one system to be packed into two bags, the British Army required Elbit to distribute the radar among three bags.
Such a portable radar system would prove useful in modern high-intensity warfare where troops may be entrenched in defensible positions. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Ukraine, where such systems would allow troops at the tactical level to discern nearby threats in a fogless battlespace.
According to GlobalData intelligence, the global military radar market is forecast to be dominated by the United States, which accounts for as much as 44% of the market share. Europe follows at just over 22%.
As US security ties with Europe begin to decline amid US President Donald Trump’s disruptive security policy, many observers are calling for decoupling, As a result, greater investment in British military capabilities, such as Elbit’s GBSR, will prove to be the order of the day.
