BY JAMES CARELESS

HENSOLDT is a German defence company and a supplier of advanced technology sensors to European armed forces on land, sea and air. Named for optics pioneer, Moritz Carl Hensoldt, this company’s sensors can be found on armoured combat vehicles, navy ships, submarines and military aircraft. These sensors collect information to support critical intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance (ISTAR) and self-protection functions.

HENSOLDT may be a new name to many within Canada’s defence industry. Based on this company’s leading technologies and capabilities, it’s time to turn the page. This is because “there are many similarities between the German Armed Forces modernization efforts and those planned by Canada,” said Sebastien Corno, HENSOLDT’s Head of International Business Development – Americas. “This fact provides opportunities for Canada to benefit from advanced technology developments in Germany, which have been deployed and battle-proven in Ukraine,” he told CDR.

Here are four areas where HENSOLDT’s defence product expertise can make the difference for Canada and its NATO allies.

GROUND-BASED AIR DEFENCE

HENSOLDT is an expert supplier of groundbased air defence (GBAD) radars, covering the full spectrum from very short-range air defence (VSHORAD) to high to medium range air defence (HIMAD) systems. The company’s most current GBAD system is the TRML-4D radar integrated with the Diehl IRIS-T SLS/SLM air defence system, fully proven against modern aerial threats in theatre.

Germany has already delivered multiple IRIS-T GBAD systems to Ukraine to support air defence. These systems have been augmented with multiple standalone TRML-4Ds to provide comprehensive airspace surveillance nationwide.

In the VSHORAD and battlefield surveillance space, HENSOLDT’s SPEXER 2000 Mk III is a scalable, compact air and ground surveillance radar system tuned for very low signature targets, such as mini and micro drones. The system employs AI algorithms to achieve reliable target classifications, while filtering out land clutter and birds. The simultaneous detection of ground (vehicles, soldiers) and aerial targets (drones, helicopters, cruise missiles, fighter ground attack) from near stationary to hypersonic targets makes this radar extremely versatile on the modern battlefield. It can be tripod-mounted, shelter-based, or vehicle-mounted and used at speeds exceeding 50 km/h.

COUNTER DRONE SOLUTIONS

The deployment of drone (UAS) warfare in the Ukraine has grown exponentially in the past years. Just as importantly, the advent of low-cost fi rst person view (FPV) drones engaging and destroying high-value materiel targets and personnel has altered the battlespace dramatically.

In response to this new battlespace reality, HENSOLDT has developed integrated counter-UAS (CUAS) solutions to deal with hardened, robust, and inexpensive threat UAS systems. SPEXER 2000 air surveillance radar is the primary sensor for this form of UAS detection and classification. The company then augments it with other sensors such as HENSOLDT’s radio frequency direction finding (RF/DF) system with a communications protocol recognition library; acoustic sensors; and advanced electro-optical/infrared (EO/ IR) cameras on stabilized mounts, completed with laser rangefinders and/or laser target designators. For maximum usefulness, this sensor package has been integrated with both soft-kill (EW jamming) and hard-kill (remote weapon station or quad-missile launcher) effectors on a variety of AFV platforms.

ELECTRONIC WARFARE

Unimpeded access to information is central to military success on the battlefield. Be it tactical communication between units, the coordination of joint fi res, the relay of sensing and targeting information, or positional, navigational, and timing data: All these require wireless transmissions via the electromagnetic spectrum (EM).

As recent conflicts in Syria, Nagorno- Karabakh and Ukraine have shown, the use of surveillance technologies including realtime target imaging by drones and satellites, the use of advanced communications and signals intelligence listening/direction-finding systems, and the aggregation of positional and navigational data have made the battlefield transparent. Within this context, the importance of the electronic warfare (EW) battlespace as an operational domain has been greatly elevated.

The new EM battlespace allows military operators to electronically attack hostile wideband infrastructure and active networks. With the metadata present in these communications protocols and upload cyber payloads. To make this happen, HENSOLDT’s cyber electro-magnetic activities (CEMA) capabilities combine the power of dominating the electromagnetic spectrum with intelligent jamming waveforms and the disruptive effects of cyber attack on enemy networks.

In future conflicts, achieving spectrum dominance in the invisible battlespace of the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) might decide a military engagement long before the first shot is fired. HENSOLDT’s Spectrum Battle Management Suite (SBMS) is designed to deliver such spectrum dominance. It is based on a modular, networked EW system architecture with front-end AI/ML (machine learning) to manage data flows and detect/ classify signals of interest. SBMS also provides a coordinated EW command and control function across all EW assets and can be deployed in mobile EW teams, special-variant vehicles or mobile headquarters.

VEHICLE OPTRONICS

From its roots as part of Carl Zeiss Optics, HENSOLDT’s optronics division has expanded its portfolio into a wide range of advanced sensors. They include combined long-wave, medium-wave and short-wave Infrared (LWIR/MWIR/SWIR) optical cameras, integrated with laser rangefinders and laser targeting systems.

As demonstrated in the current Ukraine-Russia conflict, armoured vehicles are vulnerable to multiple threats, especially anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) and laser-guided threats. HENSOLDT’s answer to this heightened threat environment is a soft-kill countermeasure system consisting of a missile warner, laser warner, Infrared/ laser jammer, and smoke dispensers. Called the Multi-Function Self-Protection suite, the system provides 360-degree coverage and handles several threats simultaneously. With automated detection of either laser or IR-based ATGMs, this suite initiates its countermeasures according to a proven library of actions, responding quickly under fi re and enhancing vehicle survivability.

HENSOLDT FOCUS ON CANADA

HENSOLDT, as a premier sensor company, is investing in its Detect and Protect capabilities to contend with the new global threat environment. With a close affinity to Canada and its NATO Allies, HENSOLDT’s proven, effective multi-spectral sensors are at the ready to support the missions of the Canadian Armed Forces.

James Careless is CDR’s Ottawa Bureau Chief