Saab AB signed an $18.5 million contract to provide the Australian Defence Force with counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system (C-RAM) support, the company said Thursday.
The contract includes an establishment period with three further years of support services. It contains options for up to five 12-month extensions, which would push the contract to 2024.
C-RAM sensors provide detection and warning against small, mobile, and hard-to-find threats like rockets and mortar fire, Saab said. The components this contract covers include the Giraffe Agile Multi-Beam (AMB) radar, Giraffe Training Simulator, and a Lightweight-Counter Mortar Radar.
Photo: Saab Group
The company noted this C-RAM capability is intended to be absorbed into the wider Australian Defence Force ground-based air and missile defense capability.
Saab also highlighted that Australia previously procured the Giraffe AMB and Giraffe Training System Mission Systems for support of Australian personnel in 2010 during Operation Slipper in Afghanistan.
“The Giraffe AMB radar maintained an operational availability of 98.5 per cent in Afghanistan and was the first layer of defence against insurgent rocket attacks for the Australian-led coalition base at Tarin Kot. This contract is a boost to local industry with additional positions through the period of the contract to manage the Australian sub-supplier network and deep maintenance services from our headquarters in Adelaide,” Dean Rosenfield, managing director of Saab Australia, said in a statement.
Saab Australia, a subsidiary based in Adelaide, is set to lead an In-Service Support team that includes Saab headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden and SRCTec, LLC in Syracuse, N.Y.
The company has sub-contracted SRCTec to provide through-life support to the AN/TPQ-49 Lightweight-Counter Mortar Radar. Saab will manage the support program, including the establishment and delivery of support services and support to the introduction-into-service requirements, associated with the three C-RAM capability components, the company said.
“Saab’s global radar operations are now growing in Australia. Our Australian staff has the full backing of Saab in Sweden in our proven through-life support of the Giraffe AMB,” Anders Linder, head of the surface radar solutions Saab business unit, said in a statement.
“This contract also proves that Saab has the competence to be able to support radar systems from other OEMs,” Linder added.