Selex ES, a Finmeccanica company, has flown its SAGE electronic warfare system on an unmanned aerial system for the first time. The system flew on-board a Schiebel CAMCOPTER®S-100 UAS in two separate flight trials after an integration period of just two days. Head of Capability Engineering for Schiebel, Chris Day, stated: “The flight trials went very well; the collaboration has been simply outstanding. We now have a unique capability to offer the global market.”
SAGE is a digital Electronic Support Measure (ESM)/Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) system for RF intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions. It enhances situational awareness by passively collecting emitter data from RF sources at a tactically significant range, comparing them with an emitter library and then identifying and geolocating any threats.
Pete Forrest, VP Sales for Electronic Warfare at Selex ES, said: “Armed forces are facing the two-headed challenge of needing to be able to detect increasingly sophisticated RF threats while having to operate under tighter budgets. With SAGE, customers can gain a sophisticated RF detection and geolocation system that they can operate cost-effectively using platforms such as the CAMCOPTER®S-100. We are pleased to be working so effectively with Schiebel and look forward to demonstrations around the world in 2014.”
SAGE is part of Selex ES’s portfolio of advanced electronic warfare capabilities that range from individual sensors to fully integrated defensive aid suites, all backed up by the company’s dedicated Electronic Warfare Operational Support (EWOS) facility. SAGE is in use with the UK MoD and has been provided to the Republic of Korea as part of a package of electronic warfare equipment for the country’s Maritime Operational Helicopter (MOH) programme.