New International Contracts for Leonardo’s Weather Radars in 2018

  • Leonardo’s Meteor family of weather radars have been chosen by customers in Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Asia Pacific over the last six months
  • The state-of-the-art radars will be used for a variety of purposes including weather forecasting, air traffic control and environmental monitoring
  • Leonardo’s Industrial Plan sees product leadership as one of the ways in which the business will maintain long-term sustainable growth

Editor Defence Industry

Rome, August 9, 2018. Leonardo, through its German subsidiary Selex ES GmbH, has secured a number of international contracts for its Meteor family of radars in the first half of 2018. The deals follow the announcement in March of a major contract with Australia which will see the Company delivering and installing new S-Band and C-Band weather radar systems throughout the Country.

 

The set of new contracts include a number in Africa, where Selex ES GmbH has been chosen to deliver and install X-Band weather radar systems at airports in Cameroon, Republic of Congo and Madagascar. The systems will be used to detect wind shears, convection and turbulence and provide alerts to air traffic controllers. Here, Leonardo’s ShearScout® solution for wind shear detection includes the supply of its Meteor 60DX weather radars.

In the Asia Pacific region, where Leonardo’s ATC capabilities are well established, Selex ES GmbH will supply weather radars and associated systems to customers in Malaysia and Indonesia. In Malaysia, the Company will provide three Meteor 60DX weather radars featuring Leonardo’s proprietary Rainbow 5 integrated sensor processing and display software and SmartWx web-based decision support and display system.

 

In Indonesia, the government’s agency for meteorology, climatology and geophysics – Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika (BMKG) – has chosen Selex ES GmbH to deliver a turn-key software integration project. This will include a national data processing centre covering multiple radars, based on the Rainbow 5 software. The system will initially incorporate 21 radars, later expanding to include more than 60 radars from other suppliers.

In the Americas, Selex ES GmbH secured a contract to install the first Rainscanner weather radar system in Peru. The radar will be used by a Peruvian university for scientific research in the areas of meteorology, climatology, ecology and agricultural development. Notably, the Rainscanner will detect and monitor eco-climactic threats to the northern coast of Peru, particularly relevant in the case of the El Niño, which produces extreme weather conditions in the region.

 

Further north, a customer in Bermuda chose Selex ES GmbH to upgrade its existing S-Band Klystron weather radar system. The currently-installed Meteor 1500S radar will be upgraded to the state-of-the-art Meteor 1700S: an S-Band, Klystron weather radar featuring dual polarization technology.

In Europe, Selex ES GmbH’s longstanding weather radar customers placed further orders. Météo France, the French meteorological service, awarded a framework contract to the Company which could see it supplying up to six S-Band magnetron weather radar systems. The objective is to modernise France’s weather radar network by replacing existing systems in France as well as those in use with its overseas departments. Further north, a customer has placed a framework contract with Selex ES GmbH to supply up to five of the Company’s Meteor 735C C-Band magnetron weather radars.

These latest contracts, awarded in competition against a pool of international providers, attest to the Leonardo’s outstanding capabilities in weather radar technology and testify to its position in the weather radar market.