It has long been known that the German Navy's future frigate 126 will be equipped with the Hensoldt TRS-4D radarESuT reported. The company recently signed a corresponding supply contract with a volume of more than one hundred million euros with Thales, a subcontractor in the F-126 project. With the combination of the TRS-4D/NR long-range radar and the APAR Block 2 from Thales Nederland, the ships will have state-of-the-art equipment for air and sea surveillance and the up/downlink capabilities required for the ESSM missile. As the Taufkirchen-based group reports, the first deliveries are planned for 2025. The release also states that the first F126 frigate is expected to be handed over to the customer in 2028. This customer is the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw). Commissioning by the Navy will follow later.
The TRS-4D product family is used on several classes of the German Navy, such as the F125 frigate with permanently installed panels. The second batch of the K130 corvette will be equipped with the Hensoldt TRS-4D Rotator ship radar and MSSR 2000 ID friend-or-foe detection system (IFF), of whichESuT reported.
The TRS-4D technology is already in use abroad. In the summer of 2019, for example, the German sensor house reported the successful acceptance of the installation of TRS-4D radars in the US Navy's Freedom Class LCS ships (LCS = Littoral Combat Ship) (s. ESUT). On the LCS, the TRS-4D, referred to by the US Navy as "AN/SPS-80", is used as the AESA rotating antenna, as on the F124 and K130. This makes it the first rotating AESA radar onboard a US Navy ship. According to the factory, eight TRS-4D systems were under contract for the Freedom class ships in the summer of 2019. However, as became known in March 2022, the US Navy intends to decommission the nine Freedom-class LCS.
Hans Uwe Mergener
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