CARABAS

AIRBORNE Wide-Area
Surveillance
CARABAS

Airborne Ground
Situation Awareness
Knowledge of the exact location and size of the enemy in an asymmetric warfare situation is key to the
most effective deployment of your forces. Decisions and actions based on real-time information are crucial.
Every second is vital in order to achieve information superiority and gain a tactical advantage. CARABAS
is a crucial component in the information infrastructure, giving full surveillance of the ground situation.

CARABAS enables foliage penetration, Versatile capability International Operations

wide area surveillance and automatic target Being generic and having multiple In international peacekeeping scenarios,
detection. The system is based on Synthetic applications, CARABAS technology is CARABAS is a key system for creating a
Aperture Radar (SAR) technology, using customisable for integration with many complete ground situation picture. Such
the VHF band, which offers unique features aircraft types and specific customer operations demand airspace superiority and
compared to other ground surveillance requirements. As well as the capability for Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD).
systems. CARABAS pinpoints the exact real-time surveillance, CARABAS can also For those operations where air superiority is
position and size of enemy vehicles be used to conduct extensive intelligence– lacking, CARABAS can be integrated with
irrespective of weather and light conditions gathering searches. The most demanding expendable UAVs or fighter aircraft.
as well as through camouflage. missions have a combined requirement for Future crises are likely to require a multi-
perfect timing and extensive research which service and multi-national response, which
They cannot hide CARABAS can supply. will make the transmission of inter-force
A high quality photograph or a microwave The strategic version of CARABAS is a information more complex. This will create
SAR image of the ground will show almost long-range system installed on a high- the need for greater interoperability and
nothing of what is hidden in a forest or altitude commercial jet or UAV. The area connectivity, which in turn will impose
concealed beneath camouflage netting. surveyed is huge, and the high performance new demands on the standards for system
CARABAS uses SAR technology but exploits of this version makes it suitable for various integration and communication links.
the 20-90 MHz frequency interval in the applications: CARABAS is completely compatible
VHF band and since our system uses this • International peacekeeping operations with international standards but is also
part of the electromagnetic spectrum, customisable to specific customer needs.
• Terrorist surveillance
it observes the target area differently.
CARABAS signals penetrate foliage without • Illegal activity surveillance

reflections through all vegetation types and • Disaster monitoring

manmade camouflage.
The system can sense any concealed ordnance
– trucks, tanks and artillery – which have
dimensions of more than just one metre. The
location of the ordnance is pinpointed to
within one metre in real time.
CARABAS

Automatic Detection of Changes Short Range Tactical Surveillance enemy may also operate from areas in which
CARABAS features unique Coherent A tactical CARABAS system gives ground traditional forces could not possibly deploy due
Change Detection. This technology can only forces a self-controlled surveillance capability to lack of space or the conditions of the terrain.
work within the frequency band used by which is instantly available for missions. In Your own forces may also wish to exploit the
CARABAS. This is due to the fact that radar this configuration, CARABAS is installed on terrain in order to obtain opportunities for
only senses metre-sized ground objects, a small UAV that has a typical surveillance concealment and surprise. Either way, increased
most of which are fixed or stationary. When capability of 0.1 sq km per second at 5 km ground force mobility implies that surveillance
a significant event occurs, for instance if a standoff. The system will detect and pinpoint is now even more crucial over concealed areas
vehicle enters the forest, a Change Detection an enemy concealed beneath foliage or and difficult terrain.
Scheme, comparing the new image to an camouflage, and ensure the security your With CARABAS, manoeuvres can be carried
older image, will pick up the event. This force’s position by covering areas in close out without encountering any surprises.
is done automatically without human proximity.
Advantages of the tactical UAV/CARABAS
involvement. The scheme surveys huge The ability to see through foliage is configuration:
ground areas and pinpoints vehicles below imperative in asymmetric warfare, as modern • Deployable at battalion level
the trees or registers barbed wire, temporary military units are often small, lightweight
cables, and tree clearings which signal and highly manoeuvrable. Therefore they
• UAV is launched and operated by ground units
military activity. CARABAS will also observe can deploy and act from deep concealment • UAV operating range matches the range of
a fully camouflaged deployment of military in forests and other hidden locations. The non-line of sight artillery
units in open terrain. • System’s accuracy allows indirect fire control

PLATFORMS AIRCRAFT AND UAVs

ADVANTAGE tOTAL VISION
SCOPE COVERED TERRAIN

CARABAS signals penetrate foliage without reflections through all vegetation types
Technical data and specifications

Tactical Strategic
Operating altitude 1 - 5 km 10 -15 km
Stand-off range 3 -15 km 20 - 50 km
Swath width 1- 5 km 2 - 30 km
Ground speed ≥ 25 m/s 150 - 300 m/s
Surveillance capacity typ. 4.5 km2/min typ. 250 km2/min
Electrical antenna length ≥ 1.5 m ≤4m
Weight antenna pair ≥ 5 kg ≤ 60 kg
Volume radar ex. antennas ≥4L ≤ 200 L
Weight radar ex. antennas ≥ 3 kg ≤ 200 kg
Power consumption ≥ 100 W ≤ 10 kW
Signa processing On ground Onboard
Ground link requirement typ. 1 Mbit/s ≈ 10 kbit/s

EN/LZTM1100005 R1 Specifications subject to change without notice

www.saabgroup.com Saab Microwave Systems

SE-412 89 Gothenburg
Tel +46 31 794 90 00
Fax +46 31 794 90 02
Sweden