Page 32 - Australian Defence Magazine Sep 2021

32 PASSIVE RADAR
SEPTEMBER 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
ENHANCING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS IN THE LAND DOMAIN
NIGEL PITTAWAY | MELBOURNE
In July, Adelaide-based small to medium enterprise Silentium Defence announced it had won a $7.4 million contract to deliver its ground-breaking Maverick M-series passive radar system to the Australian Army.
THE man-portable system will be used by the Army under a two-year contract to develop and evaluate the Maverick M-series’ capabilities to enhance situational awareness in the Land domain and is especially tailored for deployable forces. In the wake of the announcement, ADM recently spoke with Silentium Defence CEO James Palmer.
Palmer says that as the modern battlespace continues to evolve, greater penetrations of new threats, such as small un- manned aerial systems, are placing greater emphasis on new and emerging technologies to keep troops out of harm’s way.
“Comprehensive situational awareness with sufficient time to act has never been more critical,” Palmer says. “The Maverick M-series passive radar system was designed in collaboration with Defence and provides that awareness without compromise.”
Headquartered in Wingfield, SA, Silentium Defence was founded in 2017 and is currently active in the defence, space and civil market sectors, employing around 30 full- time or part-time staff, together with a further ten perma- nent contractors.
PASSIVE RADAR EXPLAINED
As its name suggests, passive radar technology provides a scalable means to detect objects without the system itself emitting energy, allowing an operator to 'see without being seen' and can be used complementary to, or as a replace- ment for, traditional surveillance systems.
Passive radar systems use reflected energy that has al- ready been broadcast into the atmosphere by a range of sources, including commercial FM radio and television stations. Because it leverages these pre-existing sources of RF energy in the atmosphere, it is not dependent upon clear weather like optical surveillance systems and is able to operate on a 24/7 basis as there is almost always multiple sources of broadcasting stations active at any given time.
And, because it uses the RF energy reflected off an object
ABOVE:The system is comfortably deployable in one soldier’s backpack and can be set up and operating within minutes.