Internal disturbance has claimed more lives of India’s security personnel than the counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in the country. Indian Air Force has been brought in to provide air cover and surveillance services to the paramilitary forces operating out of disturbed areas. There have been instances of paramilitary base camps coming under rocket and mortar attacks within the homeland. Convoys of government dignitaries face increased threats of rocket and mortar attacks in disturbed areas. Given the heightened context for homeland security against any Naxal overreach, India today requires radar systems for Base Protection as facilitated by Giraffe AMB offered by Saab.

There have been pirate attacks on the Indian maritime assets which could have been neutralised by surveillance-based timely action. Attack on the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan in the recent past envisages a response like that of US Department of State which bought the Saab Giraffe AMB for infrastructure protection.

Saab (including the radar part of Ericsson which Saab acquired in 2006) has since World War II developed and produced advanced radar systems for both seas, air and land applications. Today Saab can offer the most reliable and advanced mobile radar systems, giving multi-mission capabilities and simultaneous use of the system for air defence; situation awareness; military ATC; force protection and coastal surveillance.

Giraffe AMB – multi-mission surveillance radar

With more than 50 years experience in air defence and naval radars Saab has a true multi-mission radar system in full serial production.

Giraffe AMB belongs to a long history of successful Giraffe radar systems where advanced technology and Saab’s’ long experience is combined into a powerful and costeffective 3D radar system which also can include an advanced command, control and coordination centre for short- and mediumrange air defence systems.

Giraffe AMB builds on the same concept of high mobility and easy operation as earlier generations of Giraffe radars including uncompromising features for:

• An unparalleled 3D target update rate combined with high altitude coverage and monopulse accuracy in elevation
• Simultaneous
  - automatic air surveillance and tracking including tracking-on-jam with multiple reception
    beams
  - automatic surface surveillance and tracking
  - automatic weapon and impact location
• Modern open-architecture processing for easy integration into GBAD weapon systems or net-centric defence architectures
• Military air traffic control
• High strategic mobility
• High survivability on the battlefield

Giraffe AMB has in operation proved a high reliability and low cost for maintenance. The Giraffe AMB high sensor performance and wide range of command and control functions makes it the best choice for tactical air surveillance, mobile air space management and ground-based air defence from Manpads to medium-range SAM systems as well as for coastal surveillance and coastal defence with surface-to-surface anti-ship missile systems.

The Giraffe AMB is specified for operation in extreme climates. Testing and verification have included tests in all different climates, ranging from in-land, coastal and hot desert to arctic snow.

A Weapon Location function giving Giraffe AMB capability to detect, track, classify and accurately determine the impact position and the origin of enemy indirect fires, especially rockets and mortars. This function has been used successfully and saved lives among our customer personnel.

Giraffe AMB is a modular and scalable product to enable cost-effective tailoring to each specific customer need. The fully equipped Giraffe AMB system is very comprehensive as indicated in the list below. The non-chosen functions also provide future growth potential, should requirements change.

• A state-of-the-art 3D surveillance radar for air targets with capacity for both medium range (out to 120 km) surveillance/early warning and highly accurate cueing of ground-based air defence systems. Extensive integrated ECCM features
• Integral sea surveillance
• Weapon location and impact warning
• Weapon location and impact warning
• Netting facility, fusing sensor data from multiple radars to create a real time area air situation picture
• An advanced ground-based air defence coordination function
• Military air traffic control and airspace control functions by use of flight corridors to enhance air defence operations and air tasking messages to support planning of airborne sorties
• Voice and data communication
• Remote control and presentation
• Integrated simulator training

Giraffe AMB was taken into service during 2004 for the Swedish Armed Forces with a very comprehensive communications suite. The Swedish systems are intended for air and sea surveillance as well as groundbased air defence control and co-ordination of I-HAWK, BAMSE, RBS70 and AA guns. It is now in full-scale series production and is subject to continuous pre-planned improvements.

The Giraffe AMB system is now widely used by demanding customers around the world, including Swedish Army, French Air Force, British Army (LEAPP programme), Estonian Army, US Department of State and Australian Army and is one of the main components for Saabs offer regarding SRSAM in India.