Giraffe 8A

The Giraffe 8A is a 3D Long-Range active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system on the S-band designed to cater to the highest level of situational awareness and ballistic missile defense.

SAAB offers different Giraffe 8A versions to cater to different needs such as fixed, transportable, and mobile applications and all of them also offers exceptional search volume, multi-role capabilities, and outstanding operational flexibility.

In addition, all of the three versions share the same and identical radar and antenna design.

Main Benefits

The main benefits of having a Giraffe 8A are:

Long-range air surveillance and early warning and identification to quickly detect, track, and report all all-breathing targets that are within the sensor coverage or range

Ballistic missile defence operations that detects, tracks, and report short or medium range ballistic missiles while providing simultaneous weapons queuing and command and control (C2) reporting to significantly reduce the time needed from warning to engagement

Operational in all climate zones from inland, coastal, hot desert to artic environments

Reliability because the Giraffe 8A is easy and reliable to operate

Multi-Role Capability

Giraffe 8A’s integrated Air Defence System enhanced with a sensor suite allows constant 24/7 air surveillance over the designated area of responsibility. Furthermore, the Giraffe 8A will search, track, and report short to medium range ballistic missiles at the same time.

Operational Flexibility

If the situation requires it, the commanding officer can also choose to use the entire 360 degrees volume search or an optimized search of between 40 degrees to 100 degrees in a sector. Both volume searches can cover up to 65 degrees of elevation. It also offers extended range, fast update, and low observable targets.

Identification

You can install electronic identification capabilities to the Giraffe 8A including IFF Mode 5 & S, target classification, integrated electronic support measures (ESM), and passive tracking if it is in the network.

Survivability

There are a lot of emphasis put into the ECCM performance in the Giraffe 8A’s design and they include:

• Ultra-low side-lobes
• Frequency agility using pulse to pulse, burst to burst, and scan to scan frequency agility
• Pulse repetition frequency (PRF) switching and PRF stagger with random jitter
• Intermittent or random transmission to confuse enemies with hostile Electronic Support Measures (ESMs) and Anti-Radiation missiles
• Automatic selection to get the least jammed frequency
• Automatic jammer detection and tracking for azimuth and elevation

Operated Locally or Remotely

The design of Giraffe 8A allows the user to operate it locally or remotely. Remote is usually the primary method of operation. Operators can conduct a local maintenance using a ruggedized PC in close connection to the system.

Operators also have full operation control over the sensor system in the remote control system. While the radar system will just work normally unattended, the operators can adjust all modes and functions remotely and this also includes system monitoring and system diagnostics.

Small Target Detection

With the help of the latest AESA technology, the Giraffe 8A can detect small targets from a long distance away.

Integrated Logistics Support

Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) is an important component in system delivery and it will serve as a reference point for maintenance in the future. SAAB claims that they have ILS experts with plenty of experience to help customers worldwide with ILS deliveries.

Technical Data

Volume Search:

• Rotating or non-rotating mode
• Continuous scan (mechanical or electrical)
• 15 stacked beams
• Elevation coverage: 0 degrees to 65 degrees
• Scanning rate 24 rpm

Radar type: Stacked beam 3D radar

Antenna type: AESA, digital beam forming

Frequency: S (E/F) band

Elevation coverage: more than 65 degrees

Rotation rate: 24 rpm

Search volume: 360° or in a sector

Instrumented range

Air Surveillance: 470 km

Capacity

Air Surveillance: more than 1000 tracks

Ballistic Missiles: more than 100 tracks

Power Plant: External

Climate zones: All climate zones; in-land, coastal, desert, and arctic