LAPAS

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This article deals with the planned US American reconnaissance system LAPAS. One place in Portugal is called Lapas .

LAPAS (American program name Senior Guardian ) is the abbreviation for airborne, stand-off primary reconnaissance system and was an EloKa system planned in the 1980s and 1990s . It was a German- American joint program financed by Germany , whereby the Americans had contractually secured reservations and participation in property and use in order to protect their technology.

The equipment was to be developed in the USA by the company E-Systems (now Raytheon ) and integrated into a German aircraft. Raytheon was also the prime contractor for the entire system.

concept

The system should clear areas of interest at high altitudes of up to 17,000 meters and at a certain lateral distance outside of a possible threat. Two configurations were planned:

1. LAPAS I for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance and
2. LAPAS II for radar image reconnaissance .

Only three aircraft had been procured before they were discontinued: two single-seaters, one of them with the mission equipment, and a two-seater training aircraft of the Grob G 520 Egrett type from Grob Aircraft AG in Mindelheim .

Planned mission

The operational concept stipulated that the soaring aircraft, controlled by a pilot, should collect data in the area of ​​interest with the sensors and forward it in real time to the ground, for example the specially equipped telecommunications towers, where they would then have been evaluated. If necessary, the flight path and the area to be scouted could have been changed by giving instructions to the pilot.

Components

Fixed component

Telecommunications sector tower with "horizontal extension" on the Thurauer Berg near Thurau in Lower Saxony

The stationary component, two of which were initially planned, would have kept contact with the aircraft. Construction of the first fixed component began in the Thurau reconnaissance tower with the reconstruction of the top floor of the tower. The top of the tower would have received the radome of the antenna that was supposed to ensure the data connection to the Grob G 520. The consoles of the surveyors would have been installed in the so-called "horizontal extension", the new company building next to the tower.

Mobile (flying) component

The mobile, flying component would have been represented by G 520 aircraft.

Controversy and discontinuation of the program

The project was burdened by the so-called Amigo affair , in which the former Prime Minister of Bavaria , Max Streibl , ensured that the Bavarian manufacturer Grob was awarded the contract for the aircraft components. Streibl was a friend of the company owner Burkhard Grob and resigned in the course of the affair.

The program was discontinued in 1993 for two reasons: Due to the reunification of the two German states, the operational purpose was missing from a military point of view, since the system was tied to a ground station and could therefore only have been used over Germany and the neighboring states. In addition, with the development of a German Open Skies component for the Tupolev Tu-154, it had become obsolete to collect reconnaissance results on covert missions.

In addition, the funds for the continuation of the program, also due to the reunification, became scarce. The total costs were put at 3 billion DM, of which the federal government had already invested 716 million DM by the time the program was discontinued.

LAPAS from today's perspective

With the advent of unmanned systems such as the Global Hawk drone , LAPAS would have been obsolete, as these systems sometimes provide better reconnaissance results for longer periods of use and without endangering a pilot. In addition, the current systems have a data link via satellite, which makes ground stations in the vicinity of the operational area unnecessary.