Alliance for Passive Surveillance System

Sensor solution provider HENSOLDT has announced its strategic partnership with ERA to drive the advancement of air surveillance and defence capabilities.

ERA specializes in Air Traffic Control (ATC) and passive surveillance systems for air surveillance, air defence and electronic warfare.

The primary objective of this partnership is to jointly offer the Passive Surveillance System VERA-NG to the German Luftwaffe.

HENSOLDT and ERA will leverage their expertise to develop an integrated infrastructure solution that can use both the VERA-NG system and HENSOLDT Passive Radar Twinvis technology.

This means the combination of passive technologies: Passive ESM Tracker (VERA-NG by ERA) and Passive Coherent Locator (Twinvis by HENSOLDT). Additional data of both systems can be fused to a deep integrated airpicture, the two technologies complementing each other. 

While the VERA-NG is designed to detect active emissions from targets of interest at long range, targets do not have to emit signals for the passive radar Twinvis at a shorter range. Through this combination, a completely passive airpicture can be created. 

This synergistic approach will provide a reportedly unprecedented level of passive surveillance capability, contributing significantly to future air surveillance and air defence systems.

Both companies could extend their collaboration beyond the German Luftwaffe, with plans to offer their integrated solution to other European customers. Passive surveillance is increasingly recognized as a vital component of air defence systems, and HEN and ERA could contribute significantly to the safety and security of European airspace.

“As leaders in our respective fields, HENSOLDT and ERA are committed to providing innovative and comprehensive solutions that address the evolving security landscape,” said Markus Rothmaier, Head of Naval & Ground Radars at HENSOLDT. “Our collaboration is founded on the shared vision of enhancing national security through advanced technologies, and we are confident that our integrated solution will set new benchmarks in passive air surveillance and defence.”

“We are excited to join forces with HENSOLDT to further pioneer a new era of passive surveillance capabilities by combining our proven passive surveillance system VERA-NG with PCL-Twinvis technology,” remarked Ondrej Chlost, CEO of ERA. “The integration of our VERA-NG and Passive Radar Twinvis technology not only addresses the current challenges but also prepares us for the future needs of air surveillance and defence.”

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