UK orders Giraffe radars from Saab

The Giraffe 1X is a lightweight X-band 3D radar with an AESA digital beam-forming antenna. It is available in land and naval iterations. (Saab EDS)

The British Armed Forces will be equipped with new Saab Giraffe 1X radars.

According to a company announcement on 2 May, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has ordered 11 Saab Giraffe 1X radars for approximately SEK264 million (USD25.6 million).

Deliveries began at the end of 2022 and are scheduled to conclude in the summer of 2023 (June to September), an MoD spokesperson told Janes .

The Giraffe 1X is a small, 3D, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar operating in X-band (8–12 GHz), intended for short-range surveillance and ground-based air defence (GBAD). It can be integrated into most mobile platforms, fixed structures, or command-and-control (C2) systems. It can function as a counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) or as a counter-artillery, rocket, and mortar (C-RAM) sense-and-warn solution.

The spokesperson was unable to disclose details regarding which mobile platforms, if any, the radars would be integrated onto, for security reasons. However, they said the British Army would receive six, the Strategic Command and the Royal Air Force would receive two each, and the Royal Navy would receive one.

The radars are largely for operational environments, apart from the one system that will be fitted on the Royal Navy Patrick Blackett test vessel, the company said.

In total, the radar weighs less than 150 kg, operates with an elevation greater than 70°, and has a simultaneous detect-and-classify capacity of 100 air and 200 surface tracks.