Turkey's air defence given a $16.5m radar upgrade

Turkey's air defence radar system has been given a $16.25million technology boost following a new contract with Finmeccanica - Selex ES
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The Italian company signed the contract with the NATO support agency NSPA to modernise three RAT 31 DL three-dimensional air defence radar systems. The radars are currently in active service in Turkey following a contract signed in 1995.

The modernisation programme will align the three systems to the latest NATO standards, further optimise operating costs and significantly improve procedural and maintenance times.
Thanks to this upgrade, the life cycle of the radar systems will be significantly extended, ensuring continuity of operations within NATO’s air defence network and improving the overall availability of the systems.
This performance upgrade is possible due to the flexibility of the system architecture chosen at the time the radar was originally supplied. This modular architecture allows Finmeccanica – Selex ES to easily address and implement evolving customer requirements, minimising the through-life cycle costs of the system.
The RAT 31 DL radar is a member of the Finmeccanica - Selex ES family of proven and successful long-range 3D radar systems. It is available in fixed FADR (Fixed Air Defence Radar) and mobile DADR (Deployable Air Defence Radar) configurations.
Finmeccanica – Selex ES sold more than 50 long range radar systems in the world so far. In particular, RAT 31 DL is currently in service in several countries, eight of which are NATO members. The radar covers an area of around 500km and offers advanced features such as electronic countermeasures and anti-radiation missile capabilities.