FLORAKO
FLORAKO is a Swiss radar system for air surveillance in military and civil aviation. The acronym stands today for Florida Radar Replacement Radar Air Position System Communication System , in the initial phase of the project the name meant FLO RES RA LUS KO MSYS and arose from the project names of the subsystems.
procurement
The procurement of the FLORAKO system began with the 1998 armaments program. The FLORAKO system was introduced to the Swiss Air Force on February 2, 2004 . It replaces the older FLORIDA air surveillance system , which dates back to the 1970s. The acquisition cost was approximately 728 million Swiss francs. The four radar locations on Pilatus , Scopí , Weisshorn and Weissflue are classified and therefore not accessible to the public. The supplier of the system was ThalesRaytheonSystems, a joint venture of the Raytheon Company and Thales SA. ThalesRaytheonSystems also delivered the further expansion of the system until 2008 and also carried out further updates of the system.
technology
The FLORAKO radar system is used for air defense. It consists of a primary radar in semiconductor technology, a secondary radar and subsystems for simulation. The FLORAKO delivers 3D target information in real time, correlated with secondary radar data, over a large detection area. The FLORAKO works with a phased array antenna that constantly rotates at 15 revolutions per minute . The FLORAKO is a modified version of the radar systems Master-A and Master-M from Thales for Swiss requirements . In addition to the data from the FLORAKO radar stations, the data from the mobile TAFLIR radar systems and the civil Skyguide radar data can also be fed into the FLORAKO system.
The FLORAKO system also contains the MIDS Link 16 with which data can be exchanged, so an aircraft equipped with Link-16 can use its radar to scan valleys that are not visible to the FLORAKO and feed the radar tracks directly to the FLORAKO displays . Conversely, thanks to the FLORAKO data, the air situation in a 360 ° radius is displayed in an aircraft equipped with Link-16. Other data such as the fuel level or air defense positions can also be exchanged in this way. The Link-16 of the FLORAKO is designed in such a way that every aircraft can be integrated with the correct MIDS key. Thus, on a common mission, data such. B. be exchanged with French AWACS aircraft ( Boeing E-3 ). To calibrate the FLORAKO system (RADAR, MIDS Link16, aeronautical radio), Armasuisse has a Pilatus PC-12 equipped with the appropriate systems with civil registration HB-FOG.
| Technical data Master-M | |
|---|---|
| Frequency range | S-band |
| Pulse repetition time | classified |
| Pulse repetition frequency | classified |
| Transmission time (PW) | classified |
| Reception time | classified |
| Dead time | classified |
| Pulse power | classified |
| Average performance | classified |
| displayed distance | up to 470 km |
| Distance resolution | 200 m |
| Opening angle | 3 ° |
| Hit count | Monopulse radar |
| Antenna round trip time | 4 s |
| Technical data Master-A | |
|---|---|
| Frequency range | S-band |
| Pulse repetition time | classified |
| Pulse repetition frequency | |
| Transmission time (PW) | classified |
| Reception time | classified |
| Dead time | classified |
| Pulse power | classified |
| Average performance | classified |
| displayed distance | up to 370 km |
| Distance resolution | 220 m |
| Opening angle | classified |
| Hit count | Monopulse radar |
| Antenna round trip time | 4 s |
Succession
The Air2030 program aims to modernize the Swiss Air Force. In addition to ground-based air defense and new combat aircraft, this also includes a successor system for the FLORAKO. As the first stage of the FLORAKO replacement, containers were set up in Dübendorf at the beginning of October 2018 for system demonstration and testing by armasuisse by the providers Thales (France), SAAB (Sweden) and Raytheon (USA). In September 2019, the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) announced that the Skyview system from Thales would replace FLORAKO .
Web links
- FLORAKO , side of the Swiss Air Force
- Swiss Air Policing - permanent air surveillance , film clip of the Swiss Army on Youtube, 12:22 min., Also shows the FLORAKO operations center
- FLORAKO logo
Individual evidence
- ↑ FLORAKO website of the Swiss Air Force, see web links
- ↑ FLORAKO - The FLORAKO airspace surveillance and operations control system , information page on the website of the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) , accessed on January 2, 2018
- ^ Force Report: Swiss Air Force - Alpine Warriors . In: Air Forces Monthly magazine in association with Air Forces Intelligence - The Online Air Arms Database , September 2009 Issue, 68.
- ↑ Photo of the FLORAKO facility on the Pilatus ( Memento of the original from April 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , from the Swiss Air Force website, accessed on April 15, 2016
- ↑ Pilatus, Airdefense Command & Control unit (English), information page on zone-interdite.net, accessed on May 2, 2012
- ↑ Scopi, Airdefense Command & Control unit (English), info page on zone-interdite.net, accessed on May 2, 2012
- ↑ Weissfluh, Airdefense Command & Control unit (English), information page on zone-interdite.net, accessed on May 2, 2012
- ↑ Florako, the Swiss air forces' new air defense and air operations command-and-control system, went live at the start of February. ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ThalesRaytheonSystems press release dated March 24, 2004
- ^ ThalesRaytheonSystems Receives $ 120 Million to Deliver Advanced Command and Control Systems for the Swiss Air Force Press release of the Raytheon Company of October 18, 2005
- ↑ ThalesRaytheonSystems receives $ 20M FLORAKO framework contract from Switzerland ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Raytheon Company press release dated March 7, 2011
- ↑ SkyNews.ch Magazin, May 5, 2007
- ↑ Air2030 - Switzerland is testing airspace monitoring systems in Dübendorf
- ↑ «Without compulsion I would never have become a sergeant» , interview with Army Chief Philippe Rebord and others. a. to replace Florako and other important purchases that become due in the twenties. In: Tages-Anzeiger , June 19, 2017
- ↑ First Air2030 type decision: Thales wins the race on skynews.ch, accessed on April 18, 2020
