Leonardo To Equip Canadian Drones with PicoSAR AESA Radar

Leonardo has won a multi-million Euro contract with prime contractor QinetiQ, to equip Canadian armed forces' surveillance drones with PicoSAR Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA, also known as ‘E-Scan’) radars.

The company announced the development during the ongoing CanSac defense exhibition in Canada.

The radars will be fitted onto the newly ordered unmanned Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces, that is based on the lightweight UMS Skeldar V-200 UAS.

It will be employed by Canadian military units at sea and on land, for both domestic and international operations, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

With PicoSAR on-board, operators will benefit from a range of modes including high resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging and Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI). Together, these will deliver an effective all-weather ground mapping and surveillance capability for ISTAR missions.