Leonardo’s Kronos Grand Mobile High Power Radar Makes its International Premiere at Le Bourget

At the Paris Air Show, Leonardo showcases the latest version of its multi-function radar family for air and anti-ballistic missile defence, designed to meet the market’s new requirements

Enhanced performance through AESA electronic scanning technology and high tactical mobility with optimised deployment times

The global market for air and missile defence radars will be worth around 102 billion euros over the decade from 2023 to 2032. Asia Pacific and Europe lead the way, followed by North America and the Middle East

Current and future operational scenarios require increasingly advanced surveillance and protection capabilities against air and missile threats. To meet evolving operational and market requirements, building on the experience gained with the Kronos radar family, Leonardo has developed Kronos Grand Mobile High Power, an enhanced version of the sensor.

The system made its public debut at an international trade fair, the Paris Air Show, which is currently in progress.

Supported by Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) technology, the multi-function, multi-mission C-band Kronos Grand Mobile High Power (GMHP) radar focuses mainly on surveillance and air defence in land and coastal environments.

Its primary mission is detecting and precisely tracking ballistic missiles, even in complex and highly disturbed environments, alongside target designation and missile guidance. The sensor’s compact design ensures high tactical mobility, fast deployment times, and a 300km-plus aerial surveillance range.

The latest evolution of the Kronos family provides greater power and reliability, with its new gallium nitride ‘GaN’ components – developed in-house in Leonardo’s ‘foundry’ – featuring in the thousands of Transmit Receive Modules (TRMs) comprising the antenna.

The Greek Air Force recently selected Kronos GMHP as its primary sensor for the NATO missile test range based in Crete. Italy also chose it as the surveillance and engagement radar for its version of the latest-generation SAMP/T surface-to-air missile system built by the Eurosam consortium (MBDA 66.6% – Thales Group 33.3%).

The Kronos radar family, of which the latest GMHP version is a member, is designed for land and sea domains. Kronos radars, available in fixed and mobile versions, can perform several functions simultaneously and different types of operational missions.

Many countries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and South America already use these systems as the central sensor of Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) architectures. There are over 40 Kronos radars in service worldwide. –leonardo/adj/mhi (Pix: Leonardo)