Greentech Lead Europe: Raytheon Company, a technology
provider specializing in defense, homeland security and government markets,
will upgrade the air traffic control radar system at the Royal Netherlands Air
Force base in the town of Woensdrecht with technology to mitigate the adverse
effects on radar performance caused by wind turbines.
Raytheon will upgrade the system with a
combination of hardware and software changes to the primary surveillance radar
system. Raytheon will implement the modification by the end of 2012, the first
operational implementation of this technology.
“Raytheon’s solution will enable the Royal
Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) and the energy provider to continue to operate in
harmony. The elimination of interference caused by the wind turbines supports
the RNLAF in carrying out its mission safely and securely, while the wind farm
can continue to generate clean and affordable energy,” said Ed Sullivan,
surveillance director for Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems business.
The upgrading nullifies the presence of wind turbines and
significantly improves the probability of detection of aircraft targets, both
above and beyond wind farms. The application of this technology at Woensdrecht
will facilitate the extension of a nearby wind farm without any impact upon
flying operations at the base.
Raytheon has been applying its radar and signal data
processing expertise to develop and implement solutions that allow wind
turbines to be safely located near radar facilities.
Recently, Raytheon received
a contract from The Missile Defense Agency to provide two AN/TPY-2 radars to
the U.S. Army as the radar component to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense
(THAAD) missile defense system.