Tri-Service

"Artisan 3D" Radar Fitted To HMS Queen Elizabeth

A state-of-the-art 3D radar system has been successfully installed on the Royal Navy’s future aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Known as Artisan 3D, it'll be used for the first time to deliver air traffic management, providing the aircraft carriers with awareness and control of the skies around them.

The successful installation of Artisan took place late last month, marking a milestone in the preparation for sea trials.

It can monitor more than 800 objects simultaneously from 200 to 200,000 metres and cut through radio interference equal to 10,000 mobile phone signals.

It's capable of detecting objects as small as a tennis ball and travelling at three times the speed of sound, more than 15 miles away.

Rear Admiral Henry Parker, Defence Equipment & Support Director of Ship Acquisition, said:

“The addition of such an effective system, which has already proved itself on the Royal Navy’s Type 23 Frigates, will provide HMS Queen Elizabeth with first-class radar performance.

"The construction of the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers has created and sustained thousands of UK jobs and will act as a spearhead for our naval capability for years to come.”

The carriers, once operational, will be used for operations ranging from supporting war efforts to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

BAE Systems designed and developed the Artisan 3D at its sites in Cowes, Chelmsford and Portsmouth and the system is currently in use on the Royal Navy Type 23 frigates for air defence and anti-ship purposes.

Preparations to install the radar system onto HMS Queen Elizabeth have taken two and a half years, with part of the work including creating a life-sized mock-up of the carriers’ aft island in Cowes, which was used to hone the radar’s interaction with the combat systems on-board the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers.