Selex Galileo Awarded Support Contract for Captor and Praetorian Electronic Systems

Released on Thursday, November 12, 2009

SELEX Galileo, a Finmeccanica company, and its partner companies have been awarded a five-year contract worth more than GBP 350 million by BAE Systems for support services for Captor radar and Praetorian "Defense Aids Systems" for the Eurofighter Typhoons aircraft currently in service with the air forces of the four partner countries: Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain.

SELEX Galileo has worked with BAE Systems and the UK, German, Italian and Spanish defence ministries in an innovative approach aimed at providing an integrated logistics support service that will reduce the maintenance and repair costs of the aircraft of the four partner countries, and thus increase operational availability.

SELEX Galileo leads the Euro RADAR consortium (SELEX Galileo, EADS and Indra Sistemas) and the EuroDASS consortium (SELEX Galileo, Elettronica, Indra Sistemas and EADS), the design authorities for Captor radar and the Praetorian suite. Specifically, the Euro RADAR consortium designs, develops and manufactures the multi-mode captor radar, while EuroDASS builds and supplies the Praetorian integrated defence system that guarantees the survival of the aircraft even in the most complex fields of operation.

In addition to EuroDASS and EuroRADAR, SELEX Galileo leads the EuroFIRST consortium for the design and development of PIRATE, the infra-red system that detects and tracks potential threats, and provides the FLIR image. Lastly, SELEX Galileo is responsible for developing the avionics equipment for the cockpit display, navigation, the weapons management and flight control systems. SELEX Galileo carries out its activities relating to the Typhoon at its premises in Italy and the UK.

The Finmeccanica Group's participation in the Eurofighter programme's industrial activities amounts to around 36% (excluding engines), and it plays an important role in defining, designing, developing and producing the aerostructures, systems integration and avionics for the aircraft. Finmeccanica's contribution to activities relating to on-board electronics for the Typhoon amounts to over 60%.