Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified what organization was benefiting from the testing and evaluation of the radar units. The purpose of the evaluation is for Artis.
TEL AVIV — The Pentagon has given Herndon, Virginia-based defense solutions company Artis the green light to integrate Israeli radars from Rada Electronic Industries Ltd. into its Iron Curtain close-in active protection system (APS).
"We have received approval from the US government to import two Rada radar units for purposes of testing and evaluating them with our Iron Curtain active protection system," Artis executive Brian Detter told Defense News.
On Monday, Netanya, Israel-based Rada announced it would provide its Compact Hemispheric Radar-based RPS-10 radar to support Artis' active protection against rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) and other shoulder-launched threats.
Optimized to detect fire from RPGs and anti-tank, guided missiles, the compact, multimission Rada radar has been validated dozens of times in live-fire tests of another hard kill system, the Israeli-developed Iron Fist by state-owned IMI Systems.
Both the Artis Iron Curtain, which now uses a radar from L-3 Mustang Technology, and the IMI Iron Fist, based on the Rada radar, are being evaluated under parallel Pentagon programs.
Integration and testing of the Israeli radar on the Artis APS is planned for the first quarter of 2017.
Zvi Alon, Rada’s CEO, said the firm’s sensors are designed to fit any potential APS system for ground vehicles. "After successful integration and testing of the RPS-10 with an Israel APS (Iron Fist), we are very happy with the opportunity to prove its operability as part of the Iron Curtain."
Dov Sella, Rada’s chief business development officer, noted that Rada’s strategy targets "all APS manufacturers."
"Because our system is software-defined, we can adapt ourselves to all APS systems. Our radar is product-agnostic and presents a very attractive combination of price and performance. We believe it is one of the world’s most advanced capabilities for detecting threats and transmitting information in real time to APS countermeasures," Sella said.
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Opall-Rome is Israel bureau chief for Defense News. She has been covering U.S.-Israel strategic cooperation, Mideast security and missile defense since May 1988. She lives north of Tel Aviv. Visit her website at www.opall-rome.com.
