The first APAR Multi Function Radar for the Royal Danish Navy was subjected to the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) at the Thales premises in Hengelo, the Netherlands. The test, witnessed by DALO (Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization) representatives was a resounding success: also after its technology refresh, APAR has proven to comply with all customer requirements.

The APAR Multi Function Radar is being installed, in accordance with the schedule agreed upon, on the Peter Willemoes, the second of the Iver Huitfeldt class frigates that are currently being built for the Royal Danish Navy. The first ship, the Iver Huitfeldt, is already sailing, but without APAR. The FAT for the second APAR system is scheduled to take place in August of this year and the third early 2012.

The APAR on board of the Iver Huitfeldt class frigates is a part of Thales’s well-proven Anti Air Warfare suite (AAW) that consists of the APAR Multi-Function Radar, the SMART-L Volume Search Radar and the Fire Control Cluster. Similar AAW suites have been installed on the four “De Zeven Provinciën” class vessels of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the three “Sachsen” class vessels of the German Navy and have repeatedly demonstrated their effectiveness, also during multi-target attack scenarios.

However, the FAT was not a simple repetition of the Dutch and German FATs. The development of APAR has continued and state-of-the-art technology has been introduced to the antenna and processing units.

The DALO delegation that attended the APAR Factory Acceptance Test at the Thales premises, was impressed by APAR’s performance. The entire test cycle was executed without any flaw and DALO is confident that APAR will be a valuable and reliable asset on the Iver Huitfeldt class frigates. Following the success of Thales’ SMART-S Mk2 surveillance radar on the Absalon class ships and the absolutely trouble-free FATs of the three SMART-L Volume Search Radars last year, DALO has come to know Thales as a reliable supplier of high-quality products.

The three SMART-L radar FATs were performed in 2010 and these systems have been delivered to the shipyard.

Thales press release