Leonardo has announced the first flight trials of its Osprey 50 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, the new, larger-aperture variant of the Company’s successful Osprey surveillance radar. The flight trials were carried out in support of production for a Strategic ISR platform and Collins Aerospace’s Tactical Synthetic Aperture Radar (TacSAR) reconnaissance system.
Osprey is a multi-mode radar family based on solid-state AESA technology and remains the only system of its type currently available which delivers full spherical coverage with no moving parts. Among other benefits, this allows the radar to be installed on platforms where a rotating antenna would be unsuitable.
The Osprey family has been an international success, having been sold to 12 customers. Osprey 50 is the largest and most capable variant, providing enhanced performance for overland, maritime and air-to-air missions. It is ideally suited to medium and large aircraft which can provide the required space and power.
Osprey 50 builds on the established market position of the Osprey 30 model which is available in fixed-panel and gimballed variants and has proven to be extremely popular for manned and unmanned ISR platforms. Customers have selected Osprey for its capability, flexibility of installation and affordability. Osprey 30 is installed on the US Navy MQ-8C Firescout (where it is designated AN/ZPY-8) and on the Norwegian All-Weather Search and Rescue helicopter, the Leonardo AW101.
Leonardo has also re-used technology developed for the Osprey family to refresh its Seaspray family of AESA surveillance radars, ensuring that Seaspray remains a market - leading long range radar for maritime operations for years to come. Hardware and signal processing techniques developed for Osprey have been introduced back into Seaspray to increase capability and reduce system weight.
Leonardo, among the top ten world players in Aerospace, Defense and Security, is Italy’s main high-technology industrial company. Organized into five business divisions (Helicopters; Aircraft; Aerostructures; Electronics; Cyber Security) Leonardo has a significant manufacturing presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland and the USA, where it also operates through subsidiaries such as Leonardo DRS (electronics), and joint ventures and partnerships: Telespazio, Thales Alenia Space and Avio (space); AT R (regional aircraft); and Elettronica and MBDA (electronics and defense systems).
Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), in 2018 Leonardo recorded consolidated revenues of €12.2 billion and invested €1.4 billion in Research and Development. The Group has been part of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) since 2010 and became Industry leader of the Aerospace & Defense sector in 2019.
