Thales Nederland triples radar production

The GM200 MM/C mobile radar in the compact antenna test range at Thales Nederland. (Janes/Nicholas Fiorenza)

Thales Nederland has tripled its radar production over the last few years, Janes learnt while attending the company's handover of the first Ground Master 200 Multi Mission/Compact (GM200 MM/C) radar to the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) in Hengelo, Eastern Netherlands, on 14 February.

The increase is in the production of both land-based and naval radars, and the GM200 MM/C is a case in point, with the Netherlands having placed the first order for nine of the radars mounted on Scania Gryphus trucks in 2019.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Major General Ludy Schmidt, the deputy commander of the Materiel and IT Command (Commando Materieel en IT: COMMIT), formerly the Dutch Defence Materiel Organisation, said Norway was the second country to order the GM200 MM/C in 2021, followed by Denmark and Lithuania joining the programme in 2023. Evert Woudenberg, product manager Medium Range Search Radar and research and technology manager sensor systems and algorithms at Thales Nederland, added that Norway ordered eight GM200 MM/Cs mounted on armoured combat vehicles, Lithuania six mounted on trucks, and Denmark five detachable radars mounted on towers.

The GM200 MM/C is the land-based version of the Thales NS200 naval radar that supports missions including simultaneous weapon locating and counter-battery fire, air surveillance, and air defence. Equipped with an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, it can detect and classify unmanned aerial vehicles and track rockets, artillery shells, and mortar rounds and distinguish them from birds and wind farms.

Speakers at the handover said the speed of the AESA combined with mobility allowed the GM200 MM/C to sense, send, and scoot in less than one minute.