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 2013-2014 Aardvark Roost Committee Members
Mr Christo Cloete – President
The Aardvark Roost Colonel Gerrie Radloff – Past President
Mr Molahlegi Molope – Treasurer
Mr Nico-Jan Bornman – Secretary
A History of Electronic Brigadier General Abrie J Coetzee – Member

Warfare in Lieutenant Colonel Cobus Boshoff – Member

Lieutenant Colonel Sonika Botes – Member
South Africa Mr Dave Howie - Member

1960-2013
Special Sub Committee Members
Ms Annatlie Orsmond
Ms Nicole De Kock

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Left Page Publishing information
Name of Publisher
Editor
Associate Editor
Historical accuracy
Legal and Ethics
Photography
Interviewing Committee
Layout
Distribution and Sales
AOC Head Office Liaison
Epub editor

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Left page blank

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Right Page Key photograph

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Left Page
Table of Contents page
1.0 The art of hide and seek in warfare 8

2.0 AOC — History 10

3.0 Forward from the current AOC president 11

4.0 Forward from the Chief of ??? 12

5.0 Presidents of the Aardvark Roost 13

6.0 Achievement Awards

6.1 Friend of the AOC 14
6.2 Individual 14
6.3 Top Achiever 15
6.4 Lifetime Forwards
6.4.1 Dr Dirk Baker 16
6.4.2 Jan Hendrik (Mossie) Basson 18
6.4.3 Ben Ash 21
6.4.4 Gerrie Radloff 27
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7.0 Timelines

7.1 TFDC. Flight trials, wine and ostriches 30

7.2 The Defence strategy 31
7.3 Optronics in EW 33
8.0 Key figures
8.1 Dr Trevor Wadley 44
8.2 Dr Hendrik van der Bijl 45
8.3 The AOC interviews Brian Cobern 55
9.0 Local Industry Participation and Development 58

9.1 EMSS 60

9.2 Reutech Radar Systems 61

9.3 Saab EDS 64

10.0

Foreign company influences

Special additions on EPub

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 1.0 The art of hide and seek in warfare
By Bandile Sikwane, Senior Research Communication Practitioner, CSIR Relations

War is not pretty, it is not elegant, it should not be glamorised. It is something to be avoided at all cost.
These are not exactly my words; they are also not Colonel (ret). Gerrie Radloff’s words, but we mutually agreed on them when I interviewed
him several weeks ago ahead of the Association of Old Crows (AOC) conference of the Aardvark Roost, the South African chapter of the
organisation, which took place early last month. Seeing that he is the President of the AOC Aardvark Roost, we were talking about the AOC and
warfare, but not just any warfare, we were talking electronic warfare or EW. I told him I was curious about a specific phrase that the AOC
Aardvark Roost used in its website.
According to its website, the AOC Aardvark Roost, like its parent organising, was formed to cater for individuals who have a common interest
in EW and who wish to foster and preserve the art of EW; to promote the exchange of ideas and information in the field of EW; to recognise
the advances and contributions to EW; to document the history of EW and to commemorate fittingly the memory of fellow Crows.
I was intrigued by the phrase “...the art of electronic warfare”. So I put it to him that EW in itself is science and mathematics and ultimately
war, how could it ever be described as art? A surprising thing happened because I really thought this question would not sit well. In fact I was
preparing myself for a very short interview in deed. His response was prefaced with a slow smile, at that moment even his eyes seemed to
smile. “That’s a very interesting question,” he said, “I’m glad you asked it.”
In order for me to appreciate his explanation, he argued that he had to tell me a story: During World War 2, in 1942 to be precise, three large
German war ships and six destroyers were trapped at the Harbour of Brest in France. Hitler had ordered them to return to home base, but the
only way of returning to home base was to make a risky dash through the English Channel. Prior to making the dash for the English Channel,
the Germans used EW very cleverly by incrementally transmitting noise jamming to the British coastal radars to make it appear like typical
atmospheric disturbance on the radars of that era . The British, convinced that it was indeed noise caused by interfering atmospheric
disturbances, adjusted the manual gain control of their radar screens to compensate. As the Germans continued repeating this over a period of
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time, the British kept on adjusting the gain on their radars until they were completely tuned down, to the extent that normal targets were also
not being displayed any more. As a result, the three large German warships accompanied by six destroyers were able to sail up the English
Channel for 483km undetected, with the British believing that their equipment was faulty. When the British finally realised what was going on,
the Germans have progressed too far for them to intercept and stop them.
“Electronic warfare is a really abstract kind of war to people not involved with EW. It is waged somewhere in the ether, in the electromagnetic
spectrum,” explained Col. Radloff. “It is like a cat and mouse game,” he added. “Yes it is highly mathematical and scientific. But the art is in
how you use the science and mathematics to hide or to seek and de-cloak your enemy.” As the above story shows, for 483km and 13 hours,
the Germans were able to evade their enemy,” pointed out the retired Colonel.
“So, to put it simply, electronic warfare is the art of hide and seek, using technology, science and mathematics, elaborated the Colonel.” Any
scientist/or engineer that is able to imagine ways-and-means of uncovering and hiding from the enemy in the electromagnetic spectrum
battlefield, is truly an artist.” He concluded that the same also applies to the operational doctrines and tactics used in conjunction with the
technical capabilities of EW systems and equipment.
He shared many similar stories to illustrate his point until I could see what he was saying. He wasn’t trying to make warfare alluring in anyway.
In fact, we both agreed that this is not an ideal world. For in an ideal world, this ‘art form’ would be completely unnecessary. Having seen what
warfare does to people, animals and countries, comparing any form of war to art and bestowing on it a form of beauty would be extremely
inappropriate. This is because war is not pretty, it is not elegant, it should not be glamorised. It is something to be avoided at all cost.

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2.0 AOC — History

"The Association of Old Crows (AOC) is a non-profit international professional association with over 13 500 members and 185+ organizations
engaged in the science and practice of Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), and related disciplines."
AOC has members in 47 countries with 69 chapters in 20 countries. AOC’s membership includes executives, scientists, engineers, managers,
operators, educators, and military personnel. Founded in 1964, the AOC owns a headquarters building in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside
Washington, DC.
The name “Old Crows” emerged from the first large-scale use of Electronic Warfare during the WWII Battle of Britain and the US and allied
bombing raids over Europe. The Allied Radar Countermeasure operators used the code name “Ravens” and employed receivers and
transmitters to monitor and jam threat frequencies. Military jargon later changed “Ravens” to “Crows.”
With origins in WWII, Electronic Warfare has been, and remains, a critical enabling capability in military operations in peace and war. With the
evolution of digital/computer technology, Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), and related disciplines are increasingly
necessary to achieve knowledge superiority, strategic and tactical dominance, and asset protection in both offensive and defensive operations.
Information Operations include those actions taken to influence, effect, or defend information, information systems, and decision-making. The
development of information technology also enables EW and IO systems to cover both the analogue and digital domains including the entire
acoustic, magnetic, seismic, and electromagnetic spectrums.

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3.0 Forward from the current AOC president

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4.0 Forward from the Chief of ???

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5.0 Presidents of the Aardvark Roost

Mr Christo Cloete 2013-2014

Colonel Gerrie Radloff (Retired) 2009-20012

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6.0 Achievement Awards
6.1 Friend of the AOC
6.2 Individual
6.3 Top Achiever
6.4 Lifetime

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 6.3 Top Achiever
2011. Maj Hugo Visser

2012. Mr Pierre Theron – Saab EDS

2013. Maj Dirk Beukes

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 6.4 Lifetime

6.4.1 Dr Dirk Baker

Dr Dirk Baker (2012)

Dr Dirk Baker was born in Grahamstown 1945. His full time tertiary studies started in Grahamstown in 1964 and culminated in 1974 with a PhD in
Electrical Engineering from the Ohio State University, specialising in field theory and antennas.

During his career he worked at the National Institute for Defence Research of the CSIR, EMLab and Grintek, from where he retired at the age of 60 in
2005. He now works as a specialist consultant for SAAB EDS and other organisations both locally and internationally.

Over the past 45 years he has been intimately involved in the design, development and manufacture of a wide class of antennas operating in the 20
MHz to 40 GHz frequency range. From the outset emphasis was always on innovative designs with particular attention given to manufacturability and
qualification to appropriate military and other specifications. These antennas are used in defence and commercial environments. The aim was to
achieve world-class performance to ensure an export market for the antenna products, a goal in which he succeeded. Many of the innovative export
EW products today would not be possible without some of the innovative antenna solutions developed by Dr Baker or other engineers trained by him.

Dr Baker designed and built many of the rectangular and tapered anechoic chambers in South Africa with operating frequency ranges typically from
0.5 to 40 GHz as well as the microwave test range of the National Antenna Test Range (NATR) at Paardefontein (north of Pretoria), a 500 m ground
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reflection antenna test range covering from below 300 kHz to 40 GHz. It is rated as one of the best facilities of its type in the world. Without these
facilities, the development and testing of EW antennas and systems would not be possible today.

He has a broad understanding of the operational and environmental requirements of electronic systems for land-based, airborne (fixed wing,
helicopters and UAVs), naval and submarine applications. He also has a thorough knowledge of other technologies used in EW systems. This
knowledge and test experience enables him to interpret user requirements and to propose tailored solutions.

Dr Baker managed business aspects of the antenna business throughout his career, taking responsibility for all aspects from budgeting up to
negotiation with overseas clients.

He is also passionate about the training of new engineers and the development of antenna technology in South Africa.

The AOC Aardvark Roost chapter has the privilege of recognizing thanking Dr Baker for his lifetime contribution to EW in South Africa by bestowing
upon him the AOC lifetime Achievement award.

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6.4.2 Jan Hendrik (Mossie) Basson

Jan Hendrik (Mossie) Basson (2013)

Mossie gained his wings in the SAAF in 1964 and graduated at the Military Academy in 1968. He progressed to the fighter environment in the mid
1970’s, first as an instructor on the staff of 85 Combat flying (Impala Mk 1 & 2).

He flew many combat missions and was involved in numerous operations in Northern Namibia/Southern Angola/South Western Zambia until the end
of the conflict in the late 1980’s. This valuable operational experience made him acutely aware of the necessity of EW to overcome the ever increasing
density and sophistication of air defences encountered in the operational area.

His enthusiastic interest in the technical and operational aspects of air defence systems plus his original way of thinking, resulted in the huge
contributions Mossie made in finding solutions for the operational problems encountered.

He became the SAAF’s first SOEW in 1976 and working closely with engineers from the Air Force, the CSIR and Armscor, played a key role in
establishing various EW development and acquisition programmes. It included a new generation RWR, self protection and escort radar jammers, chaff
and flare dispensing systems and modern state of the art Sigint equipment.

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His practical and innovative ideas further resulted in the establishment of some really unique capabilities. Examples included clandestine ground
based helicopter transportable ESM/Sigint system which was regularly deployed inside enemy territory.

Another example was the high radar cross section helium balloons that could be deployed by own forces in forward areas. During a trial deployment
in the operational area, eleven radar guided surface to air missiles were launched at these “helicopter targets”.

His contribution in developing flying tactics to enhance the effectiveness of ECM cannot be overemphasised. This was also true with regard to mission
planning - in how to exploit the weaknesses of air defence systems i.e. their minimum reaction times as well as their minimum and maximum
engagement height and range limitations.

Mossie further played a major role in the development and presentation of EW courses and in creating EW awareness in the SAAF.

Within Military Intelligence he also contributed substantially with regard to the crucially important aspect of technical intelligence and he played a key
role in the exploitation of captured enemy air defence equipment. He was often involved in technical information exchanged encounters with
intelligence services of foreign countries where his knowledge, negotiating skills and personality gave him a lot of credibility.

After his retirement in the early 1990s, he remained fully committed to EW as a consultant and lecturer on EW to the SANDF and the South African
EW industry. This includes courses to foreign customers on behalf of the EW industry.
His EW expertise is unique, his enthusiasm for EW is insatiable and it is hardly impossible to overestimate the contribution he made to EW in South
Africa over a period approaching forty years.

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6.4.3 Ben Ash

Ben Ash (2013)

After qualifying as an Electronic Engineer at Cape Town University in 1976, Ben did his National Service in the Signal Corps. He then joined the South
African Air Force (SAAF) in 1978 as Staff Officer Electronic Engineering Projects (SOEEP) in the Electrical Engineering Department at SAAF
headquarters.

The SAAF at the time realised that a substantial electronic warfare (EW) capability would be required and Ben played a key role in all the projects that
followed. He had the ability to identify the critical technical issues when specifying EW equipment and he understood the operational problems that
had to be overcome. He translated this into the capabilities the equipment had to meet to ensure that the required operational functionality was
achieved.

He worked exceptionally well in a team and his impeccable integrity, sharp mind and vast knowhow accumulated in a very short time, made people
including EW equipment suppliers, respect and accepted him. This proved to be particularly valuable during contract negotiations, design reviews,
equipment acceptance tests and field trials.

Ben was the technical responsible officer for all EW projects that included a locally developed Countermeasures Dispensing System, three Radar
Warning System (RWS) programs of which one was a local effort, a Self Protection and Escort Radar Jammer program as well as new Signal
Intelligence (Sigint) systems.

More bright young engineers were appointed – Christo Cloete, Simon Germishuizen, Herman Volker and Harry Schultz being some examples! Ben was
their mentor and guided them to become very useful EW experts in their own right.

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Many more EW programs followed. It included additional operational equipment like the fully integrated EW suite for the Cheetah program as well as
helicopter deployable Sigint and Stand-off Jamming systems. It also involved the establishment of support facilities to test, develop and verify the
operational functionality and effectiveness of EW systems. This included the Automated System for the Capture and Analysis of Radar Information
(ASCARI), the Multi Emitter Environment Simulator (MEES), the Infrared Mobile Laboratory (IRML), the Open Loop Tracker and the Dynamic Radar
Cross Section measurement facility. Each of the different facilities fulfilled important and complimentary roles and Ben played a leading role in
ensuring that it became a success i.e. a mobile EW range.

Ben meanwhile achieved his MBA degree through UNISA where he developed the concept of an EW Centre for his thesis. He was the main driver
behind the SAAF’s EW Centre and was the first commanding officer in 1983. Ben created the term “technical operational systems support” that
became the main function and focus of the EW Centre.

In 1988 Ben joined the newly established Grintek Avitronics that specialised in self protection EW equipment. When the war in Angola ended in 1989
the local demand for EW reduced dramatically but the normalisation of the political situation in South Africa was on the other hand gaining
momentum and the Arms Embargo started to ease-up. This allowed opportunities to export EW equipment – just in time because Avitronics was
doomed unless export customers could be found.

The challenge was how to be successful as an unknown supplier against the well established big players from the USA, England, France, Italy and
Israel? The answer laid in competitive priced EW systems with superior performance. The equipment Avitronics produced at the time was more or
less competitive but it did not really possess any performance advantage.

The operational experience gained during the conflict was potentially a major advantage – if it could be exploited properly. The question was how to
convert this experience into the design of EW systems to provide superior performance. It was also a race against time – local contracts were running
out and without foreign orders, the company could very well go under.

As the company’s technical director, Ben again played a pivoting role in mustering, motivating and guiding the very capable but also some very
individualistic design engineers to come-up with the solutions.

The result was the Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS). It offered radar, laser, missile approach warning as well as countermeasures dispensing sub-
systems. Each subsystem offered certain performance advantages but its uniqueness and competitive edge laid in that it was fully integrated versus
the competition’s federated systems.

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The first export order was signed in 1997 and many subsequently orders followed with customers from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and
South America.

IDAS was of course a team effort but it required a special kind of leadership with the vision, engineering insight and management skills to ensure
success. Without Ben fulfilling this function, it is very doubtful whether Avitronics would have succeeded in this endeavour.

Ben became managing director of Avitronics in 1998 and to an even greater extent, turned the company into a truly successful and leading EW
manufacturer with a whole range of EW systems for airborne, naval and land based applications.

When the Swedish companies Celsius Tech and later Saab became interested in Avitronics, Ben ensured that the South African developed EW systems
were retained and further improved. When Saab acquired the Grintek group in 2005, Ben as part of senior management, was required to move to
Sweden and continued to make sure that the local EW expertise and systems were maintained.

In 2010 after playing a truly gigantic role in EW for more than thirty years, Ben had to choose between staying in EW but remain in Sweden
indefinitely and his love for South Africa. He chose the latter and returned to South African and joined the Zeiss company.
Ben’s legacy in EW is however far from over. His example, mind-set and dedication to EW over such an extended period left a lasting impression on
many still involved in EW in South Africa. This will ensure that Ben’s influence in EW will endure and perpetuate for many years to come.

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 6.4.4 Gerrie Radloff

Gerrie Radloff

Joining the Air Force

Johan Gerhardus (Gerrie) joined the Air Force in 1964, and after his basic military training, he was selected for flying training on Harvard Aircraft. He qualified as an Air
Force pilot in the same year and was selected to study a B Mil degree at the Faculty of Military Science of the University of Stellenbosch based at the Military Academy in
Saldanha. He obtained his B Mil degree in 1967 and proceeded to become an instructor pilot. After a six year instruction tour from 1968 to 1974, on Harvard and Impala
Aircraft, Gerrie was selected to go into the fighter aircraft line. He flew Sabres on 1 Squadron from 1974 to 1976 and from 1977 to 1978 he flew the Mirage III on 2
Squadron. He flew the Mirage F1 CZ on 3 Squadron as a part time pilot during 1980 to 1982 while performing EW staff duties at Air Force Headquarters.

Commanding Officer of a Fighter Squadron

Between 1983 and 1985, Gerrie was the Commanding Officer of 1 Squadron flying the Mirage F1AZ. During this period, he acquired hands-on experience with sophisticated
EW systems the F1AZ fleet was being equipped with, as well as threat analysis and the development of counter measure techniques and related flying tactics. He flew many
actual combat sorties against some of the most advanced Air Defence Systems in the world. Not a single aircraft was lost due to enemy actions during his entire
Commanding Officer tour.

Electronic Warfare Staff Post

Gerrie did two EW Staff Tours at the South African Air Force Headquarters. Between 1979 and 1982, he operated as the Staff Officer Electronic Warfare (SOEW). During this
period he managed all operational EW activities in the South African Air Force. This involved running the entire signal intelligence effort and data analysis. He also took part
in various EW projects and was the main drive behind modifying and equipping all the SAAF’s fighter and attack aircraft with self-protection EW capabilities. Gerrie had the
advantage of actually doing the operational flight and acceptance tests on the Mirage F1AZ for the equipment and systems for which he wrote the requirements.

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His second tour at South African Air Force Headquarters was that of Senior Staff Officer Electronic Warfare (SSO EW) from 1986 to 1991. This is the most Senior EW post in
the Air Force. He managed all EW activities from projects to operations. His dynamic personality, operational experience and intimate knowledge of the EW environment
contributed to the establishment and maintenance of the best EW equipped Air Force on the continent and under the best in the world.

Joining the EW Industry

In 1992 Gerrie decided the take his vast operational and EW experience to the South African EW Industry. He joined Grintek Avitronics (now SAAB Electronic Defence
Systems) in the marketing division and soon became the Manager for International Marketing and Business Development. Gerrie's dynamic personality and intimate
knowledge of EW was a major contributing factor to put the South African Industry on the International map. He sacrificed home comforts and family life to spend long
periods overseas on marketing and commercial related visits. His famous saying of "We don't sell a product, we sell a capability" became a buzz-fraise that are still used in
the marketing environment of the South African EW Industry.

After his retirement in 2007, Gerrie's EW knowledge and experience was not lost. He is still actively involved in the shaping of EW plans and strategies to various
organisations as a consultant.

President of the Aardvark Roost

Gerrie was instrumental in the resurrection of the Aardvark Roost in 2008, after being dormant for many years. He was nominated as the as the chapter’s president in
November 2008, and served in this position until February 2013. During his term as president, the chapter grew from strength to strength, receiving numerous awards from
the AOC head office in the USA, establishing a local awards program and held various conferences.

Gerrie ensured that the Aardvark Roost played a role in promoting the exchange of ideas and information as well as in fostering the dissemination of new knowledge in the
field of EW through the conferences we arrange.

His EW expertise is unique, his enthusiasm for EW is insatiable and it is hardly impossible to overestimate the contribution he made to EW in South Africa over a period
approaching forty years.

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Left page

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7.0 Timelines
This section of the book covers a range of stories loosely tied in chronological order and are narrations from
leaders in South African EW about achievements, tragedies, and the humorous aspects of this closely knit
industry.

7.1 TFDC. Flight trials, wine and ostriches

One exciting opportunity as a young development engineer was the opportunity to evaluate ones systems in near real life operation. The Test Flight
Development Centre at Bredarsdorp in the Cape offers such an opportunity.
As early as the late eighties Saab was developing anti-radiation sensors for remotely piloted vehicles (RPV’s). The final application was nose mounted
on slow speed RPV’s that could fly at 10,000 feet and destroy enemy radars as part of the initial attach for fighter planes. TFDC provided the capability
to test the system mounted on the nose of a Puma helicopter with the evaluation equipment (including enthusiastic and slightly hung over engineers
in the back).
The selection of Bredarsdorp for TFDC has a history of its own. Many believe the weather conditions of the Karoo would have been more suitable than
the temperamental western cape. Certainly the logistics of testing outdoor equipment that was not yet weather proof and requiring a cloud ceiling of
10,000 meant many a day performing non work related tasks such as open line fishing by “Die Grotte”, or golf on the weather beaten 9 hole course.
One also had to ensure an adequate supply of wine for those rainy indoor days. The local store had a reasonable selection but usually sold in the more
popular 5 liter containers and it was quickly noticeable that we were not local by our full set of teeth. In the late eighties defence personal were not
particularly welcome due to the relocation of prime fishing territories to protect the Overberg facility. Coming from a private organization like Saab we
had the ability to shamefully disassociate ourselves from Armscor and the defence force in order to improve the service in the famous “Strandlooper”
bar.
The facilities at TFDC were world class and the friendliness and expertise of the staff unbeatable. The security of the facility was necessary but
cumbersome but we accidently found out that if you arrived wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses the ground staff were very accommodating.
Working with the Pumas we were forced to take the side of the “rotary wing” against the rivalry “fixed wing”. There was many a time that us young
and less experienced engineers found ourselves inadequately prepared for a sortie only to have an air-force member bail us out with loaned
equipment. Finally we were ready for our first test and straws were drawn to see which lucky employees could participate in the flight. Of course the
software engineers always had to participate. I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were always correcting for hardware faults
rather than maturing the software itself. The thrill of gearing up for a sortie and then flying at 10,000 feet with the doors open to cool the overheating
equipment tends to wear off after 10 accumulated hours. By the end of the week the drawing of straws ritual was rather to see which poor sods had
to go with the software engineers. Even the flying over the sea to spot whales or low flying over inquisitive ostriches lost its sparkle. The 70 degree
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descent on the mountain supporting the 3D radar did reignite the excitement, particularly for me that was mentally recalculating my radiation safety
distances during the descent as I had not yet brought children into the world.
After a few nights of analyzing the data from the numerous flight trials and blaming any of the poorly behaved data on multi path propagation it was
time to leave the beauty and friendliness of the cape and return to Pretoria. Several years and iterative designs did result in Saab offering a variety of
anti-radiation and emitter location products. The latest offering, the ELS300 integrates fully with the IDAS300 self-protection system for rotary and
fixed wing platforms.

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7.2 The Defence Strategy

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7.2 Optronics in EW

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8.0 Key Figures

8.1 Dr Trevor Wadley

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8.2 Dr Hendrik van der Bijl

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8.3 The AOC interviews Brian Cobern on Naval EW in the 90’s

Brian started with Barcom in Durban designing frequency hopping radios on an Armscor funded project. At end of development cycle he received an offer
from Johan Pretorius that had founded Emlab in Pretoria from LGI. Emlab was a microwave component designer and manufacturer. One specialist
component was detector diodes, and the navy had a problem with their ESM receiver which used high power detectors but due to the close proximity to the
radar they were blowing on a regular bases. The first job for the navy was upgrading the front end receivers of the ESM system which was originally designed
for airborne application and needed to be “marinized”.
Brian was in process of moving to Pretoria when Johan Pretorius said he wanted to open a branch in Cape Town to be close to the customer which he opened
in 1990. Brian was joined shortly afterwards by Dave Rachman who was an expert in Digital Frequency Discriminators, and then Rob Anderson and Anthony
Green. The four had an office in Fish Hoek. The primary business was originally related to maintenance. Piet van der Byl who was in the Navy as a technical
warrant officer joined the company to work on among many other things, a project to improve the longevity and maintenance cycle of the waveguides for
the radar systems on board. The navy had reliability problems with jammers, particularly noise jamming and Tracking jamming and this tied in with the
jammer work that Emlab was doing in Pretoria so this knowledge was transferred to Cape Town and enabled us to refurbish the jammer system. The next
capability that was established was reworking ESM receivers.
Emlab was predominantly a component supplier sector of the industry and so didn’t have strong links into the Navy at first but they shared a floor and a
boardroom with a company called “Delcon” who were mostly ex-navy personnel and so they had better contacts with the Navy. Delcon also held the higher
level maintenance contracts Leon Downes was the manager of and Eddie Noble the second in charge. It turned out to be a successful relationship with
Delcon working as the main contractor and Emlab one of main their sub-contractors.
Emlab in Pretoria were a strategic supplier of microwave components to Avitronics on the Cheetah upgrade program and so were duly acquired by Avitronics
. Due to the successful partnership with Delcon they were also acquired shortly afterwards. Avitronics Maritime as we were now called, inherited the Dencon
contracts and projects but Leon left shortly afterwards to work on other more commercial marine activities. Eddie stayed on and managed the main

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contracts for the new corvette program. Integration into one company was slow and difficult due to logistical and cultural differences and a wider variety of
defence related work was taken on to increase the turnover and try make a sustainable business out of the much increased and less manageable joint staff
complement
The DFD products were not actually for Naval projects but for Sysdel working on airborne projects but later there was some cross sector work for the Navy
like Project Nickels for UEC in Durban. But DFD’s was a technology driver and paid the bills as naval work was not very profitable as the scope of work often
increased, especially on the jammers. It was only after a long stretch of maintenance work and learning from the Navy, that Avitronics decided to develop
their own ESM receivers.
The new corvettes were on the horizon and Avitronics Maritime expanded their marketing side to target the Corvette program. They started the submarine
periscope with ESM receiver on the top which eventually became a product and was targeted for the incoming South African submarine but became an
export product driven mostly by Harald Hansen. Most work was still however for surface vehicles. They re-commissioned the C band radar antenna that was
corroding deep inside the waveguide structure and this resulted in technology funding to measure the near field energy and translate that to far field beam
patterns for improved range and accuracy, special techniques in aluminium welding for the maritime environment were also developed under the guidance
of Piet van der Byle.
Avitronics Maritime got a boost in electronic design capability when Pat Clarke moved from Pretoria to Cape Town. Alan Struthers joined adding capability to
the manufacture of the DFD’s and the company reached a respectable size to be recognized as a reliable high tech supplier of Electronic Warfare products for
the Navy.
There was only a little Armscor funding but mostly direct contracts. The company had to do some strange things to keep busy and bring money in. They did a
reengineering of shoulder launched rocket receivers which had a fixed frequency crystal that was finally replaced with synthesizers by a competing supplier
One of the more interesting projects was a telemetry transmitter and building of a receiver for the 35mm anti-aircraft artillery rounds with the proximity
antenna in the front. But in order to test the rounds they needed a transmitter in the back sending flight performance data which was a huge environmental
challenge considering the shock of cannon fire, the G force as the round accelerated down the barrel, the ejection of the protection sabot and the huge
Doppler shift in frequency as the round followed its trajectory losing velocity all the way to target several kilometres away. Peter Meaker who had previously
worked on frequency hopping radio synthesizers at Barcom, devised a highly innovative very wide band receiver using very high speed divider technology to
reduce the Doppler shift frequency to be low enough to be easily tracked by a standard wideband receiver. This resulted in a very simple and low cost
receiver design which won us the contract. Our competition were still scratching their heads as to how we had managed to do this, as they were using
convention frequency conversion and mixing techniques to track the fast changing RF signal. Trials were done with real rounds and four of the five prototype
rounds produced very usable data which was fed back into the round design.

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For the naval 76mm gun we competed against a Stellenbosch company called EDH for a muzzle velocity analyzer but after many trials and shoot-offs, we
failed to land the production order mainly on cost as we had spent a huge amount of effort in designing s a product that could withstand the huge
environmental conditions of being mounted on a 76mm turret as well as the potential of tons of green water hitting the device during heavy seas..
Interesting the company that did win, later went on to developed the famous ball tracking radar that is now used for the cricket, tennis and golf with much
delightful visual effect .
Delcon had previously won funding to develop a completely local decoy rocket launching system, using composite technology and was fast enough (due to
the reduced weight) to swing and point the chaff rockets to maximize the decoy effect by taking into account the ship speed, wind effects and direction of the
incoming missile. this project was lead by Deon van Zyl.
The development work in Cape Town was not just iterative re developments of airborne products but substantial development products in themselves with a
lot more attention to environmental requirements than the airborne products demanded. There was a lot of competition in those days. AMS were a good
competitor on the jammers as was Retech Radar as well as some other smaller companies based in Midrand. Fortunately Armscor distributed work to keep
several companies active and competitive. Development times were much shorter in those times but it was smaller work share and not as complex and
funding was on a shorter approval cycle.
“One humorous story was one trip to Pakistan where we were helping with some American products that were purchased but were of very poor quality and
not designed for naval operational use. Avitronics maritime with their refurbishing expertise helped out on one or two occasions. On one occasion, not long
after an American hotel was damaged terrorist bomb in Karachi, security was particularly tight. Personnel were escorted to the naval base on the back of a
vehicle with two armed guards. On one occasion there were distant gun shots and the two security people dived for cover leaving the Avitronics people
sitting in the back of this open jeep type vehicle . When they asked them why they didn’t take cover we replied that we were South Africans and they wern’t
shooting at us as we are neutral.” This was in mid 90’s.
Brian Cobern left the world of Naval Electronic Warfare in 1998.

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 9.0 Local Industry Participation and
Development
(make titles hyperlinks for epub version)
ARMSCOR
CSIR
Denel Dynamics
GEW Technologies
IMT
Peralex
Poynting
Reutech Communications
Reutech Radar Systems
SAAB Grintek Defence
Sysdel
Tellumat
Thoroughtec
Zeiss
58
59
9.1 EMSS

A brief history of EM Software & Systems

EM Software & Systems (EMSS) was founded in 1994, the year of South Africa's first democratic elections, by Frans Meyer and Gronum Smith as a company
consulting in electromagnetics. This coincided with large budget cuts in the defence industry which had up to then been the main driving force behind R&D in
the EM engineering industry due to international sanctions. The democracy, however, brought new opportunities to do business outside the country's
borders.

Through consulting services EMSS identified the local and international need for the simulation of antennas on electrically large platforms. A hybrid solution
between the accurate Method of Moments (MoM) and asymptotic high frequency techniques PO and UTD promised to be an elegant and practical solution.
Cooperation between EMSS and Ulrich Jakobus, who did research on these hybrid techniques at the University of Stuttgart, followed and resulted in the
commercial code FEKO.

FEKO has become one of the leading international software simulations tools with key customers that included Alenia Aerospace, EADS, Daimler, Lockheed
Martin Space Systems and SAAB Avionics.

Apart from software simulations, EMSS also applied invested in projects related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields, both locally and for
international clients. Through these EMSS established an in depth knowledge regarding the requirements in both analysis and exposure management. This
knowledge has been extensively used and implemented in the products FEKO, IXUS and fieldSENSE which are extensively used in industry.

More recently EMSS became involved with the KAT, MeerKAT and SKA projects where electromagnetic analysis services are provided together with custom
antenna prototyping and development.
More than 120 people are currently employed by the EMSS Group.

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9.2 Reutech Radar Systems

A short history
Reutech Radar Systems (RRS) started out on 2 February 1987 in Stellenbosch with Bill Reeler as manager under the name ESD South, a division of ESD in
Midrand. The company’s name changed to Reutech Radar Systems in 1993.
The start-up project was Hexagon, a small L-band surveillance radar with solid state power amplifier intended for the Rooikat armoured vehicle that was
being developed under Armscor project Strelitzia.
By the end of 1987 all subsystems had progressed to the first prototype stage and in 1988 the development progressed to an engineering development
model. The first target was detected in 1989 and by the end of 1989 the first system had passed its acceptance tests and early in 1990 was taken to Kentron
for evaluation. By this time the Bush War had ended and military expenditure was scaled down. The Strelitzia project was terminated and the Hexagon radar
did not enter production.
There was a further need for a small radar for the Buffel infantry vehicle that led to project Contain I, but the proposed radar was not what the soldiers really
wanted. After some serious baseline creep the requirement morphed to project Contain II that called for a medium range search radar housed in an
armoured container with a mass of ten tonnes, carried by a twenty ton truck! And so the L-band Kameelperd radar was born. The first Kameelperd prototype
radar was delivered in 1992. Four production baseline systems were built. These have been continuously improved over time and are still in service with the
SANDF as a Battlefield Command Post in the Ground Based Air Defence System (GBADS). They were later renamed to Thutlwa, the Xhosa word for giraffe.
The Kameelperd was first used operationally in a peace-keeping role during the 2010 World Cup as part of the security system to ensure the safety of the
stadiums. A Kameelperd radar was used outside South Africa in 2011 in the Sudan as an Air Traffic Control radar to handle the VIP flights during their
independence celebrations.
ESD in Midrand was also involved in radar development. They gained their first experience by building 8 Air Traffic Control radars under license from the
Italian firm Selenia. Built during the early eighties, these radars are still in use today. In 1986 they were awarded a development contract for the Catchy
tracking radar, derived from the Fynkyk radar developed by NIDR at the CSIR. The Midrand team joined up with the Stellenbosch team when Gavin Tatlow
took over as CEO from Bill Reeler in 1989, bringing a lot of industrial radar experience with them. The Catchy and the associated DART gun-fire control system
project was completed in 1997.
Where the Kameelperd was a 2D search radar, the South African Air Force had a requirement for 3D surveillance radars. A first step in meeting their need was
taken in 1989 with the development of the Leaf technology demonstrator that in turn led to the development from 1993 of the ESR 360L 3D radar under
project Eclosion. With its 6 x 2.4 m foldable antenna mounted on a backbone carrying 20 power amplifiers and 18 RF front ends, all on top of a truck, the
radar was an impressive beast. In

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1993 work was also started in partnership with Aerotek (previously known as NIDR and NIAST) of the CSIR to work on the Armscor project for the definition
and prototyping of tracking radars for the SA Navy.
The year 1994 brought full democracy to South Africa and radical change for her defence industry. The South African military market opened up to
international competition and local defence spending took a downward plunge. A new CEO, Daan Botha, was also appointed in 1994. He was succeeded by
Piet Smit in 1999. Project Eclosion was terminated in 1998 and RRS had to downsize seriously.
Things took a turn for the better in 2000 when RRS was awarded the contract to develop and manufacture the the Optronics Radar Trackers (ORT) for the
Navy under the Strategic Defence Package. This was a large contract and was carried out in partnership with amongst others CSIR Aerotek, who designed the
antenna and supplied the signal processors for the radars, and MTech, who made the positioners for the antennas. The laast system was delivered in 2006.
In 1999 the German company EADS became a shareholder. Several subsystems were developed and produced for them, including a stabilised platform for a
naval antenna and a transceiver for a radar upgrade. These projects strengthened RRS’s electro-mechanical capabilities and also created the opportunity for
RRS to establish a low noise frequency synthesiser design capability.
Our mechanical capabilities were put to the test when RRS accepted the challenge to build the positioner for the optical payload of the South African Large
Telescope, SALT. The positioner had to locate the camera within 5 micrometres along a curve in space, 13 m above the stationary mirror of the telescope.
James Verster succeeded Piet Smit as CEO in 2004 and stood at the helm of RRS until 2010, being succeeded in turn by Carl Kies, the present CEO. RRS
became a fully-owned South African company again when Reunert brought back the EADS share in 2007.
RRS entered the non-military radar market when Anglo Coal approached RRS in 2004 with a requirement for a slope stability monitoring radar. The radars are
used in open-cast mines to give warning of impending slope collapses by monitoring the slope for the small movements that are precursors for slope
collapses. Today the Movement and Surveying Radars (MSR) can monitor slopes at stand-off ranges of up to 2.5 km.
With mining sales rapidly growing, a division Reutech Mining headed by Jan de Beer was established within RRS to create the necessary focus. Today more
than 100 of these radars are deployed in 20 countries in harsh environmental conditions. The radars are monitored 24/7 in a control room on the RRS
premises.
By 2006 South Africa had a problem with porous borders. With the FMCW technology established for the MSR, RRS set out on developing Spider, an FMCW
radar specifically for air surveillance on our borders. The radar called for high isolation between the transmit and receive antennas and a narrow beam width.
RRS mastered slotted waveguide antenna technology with inputs from Stellenbosch University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The
Spider surveillance radar has gone through several upgrades and is currently in service with an overseas air force.

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RRS came up with an idea that ran counter to conventional radar wisdom. In a first phase of development, DPSS of the CSIR critically assessed the idea while
RRS built a simple concept demonstrator to prove the concept. This provided the basis for a low-cost 3D X and L band surveillance radar called the DBR-XL
with the necessary measurement accuracy for missile designation.
A breakthrough was achieved in December in 2007 when RRS secured its first export order for a complete locally developed radar system. The RSR 210 is an
X-band 2D pulse Doppler naval surveillance primarily intended for helicopter guidance.
The simultaneous development of RSR 210 and DBR-XL starting in 2008 made it possible to share technology between the radars and made for an exciting
time for the development engineers who had to marry the different requirements of the two radars.
The DBR-XL development was done in close partnership with DPSS, who built a simulator for the radar, Denel Dynamics, who evaluated the radar for missile
designation, and Prof Norman Morrison from UCT, who led the development of new concepts and principles for tracking filters. The programme provided a
strong stimulus for the formation of SARIG, the South African Radar Interest Group, a forum for South African role players in the radar field. The X-band
component of the DBR-XL 3D pulse Doppler technology demonstrator was demonstrated early in 2010.
The last RSR 210 was successfully delivered in 2013 while in phase three of the DBR-XL technology development a 3D L-band radar was added to the X-band
system. In a test at the Overberg Test Range at the end of 2013 the demonstrator successfully designated South African missiles.
In 2007 RRS was approached with a requirement for a radar for an active protection system. The radar had to continuously observe a volume in space of
about an eighth of a hemisphere out to a few hundred metres and report the presence and 3D position and velocity of a target such as a Rocket Propelled
Grenade (RPG) anywhere in the surveillance volume within a matter of milliseconds. It also had to be small. The RRS proposal was accepted and by 2008 a
concept demonstrator showed that the proposed solution would work. Two TATS150 CXDM experimental concept demonstrators were built in 2009 and
tested locally and abroad towards the end of the year. The development of a production model produced the RAD 150 radar in 2012.
RRS also found a challenging problem for its mechanical technology in the form of solar trackers for CPV power plants. RRS is currently supplying the 1500
trackers for the solar plant that is under construction at Touwsrivier. On completion this will be the the largest CPV plant in the Western world.
In the quarter century of its existence, RRS has grown into a company with a high level of know-how covering the broad field of radar communications,
processing and mechanical technology.

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 9.3 Saab Grintek Defence

INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this book is to record the history of Electronic Warfare (EW) in South Africa. This chapter about Saab Grintek Defence, previously Grintek
Avitronics, will therefore focus primarily on the EW achievements of the company. The operational environment and other relevant circumstances that prevailed
over the period under discussion (the middle 1970s to the present), largely determined and motivated what was achieved and is therefore also discussed.

The company has been very fortunate to employ very clever, highly motivated, hardworking, original thinking and innovative personnel from the very beginning.
Nothing would have been possible without them and their efforts are acknowledged. However, to keep the focus on EW, no reference will be made to any specific
individuals.

CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTRONIC WARFARE (EW)
INDUSTRY
The armed conflicts that raged in Southern Africa from the early 1960s to the late 1980s were without doubt part of the Cold War. The Soviet Union had a huge
involvement in Southern Africa as well as in other parts of Africa, by supporting and infiltrating many of the liberation movements. Expanding their influence in
Africa formed part of their quest for world domination.

The Soviet Union developed the most comprehensive air defence system the world has even seen. It consisted of a wide range of early warning and ground control
intercept radars and a magnitude of interceptor fighter squadrons distributed strategically throughout Russia. It further involved an impressive range of Surface to Air
Missile (SAM) systems. It consisted of long range SAMs capable of engaging targets over distances of more than 100 km and altitudes up to 80 000 ft and beyond,
to short range quick reaction SAMs capable of engaging aircraft flying at low level and high speed. The tracking, acquisition and missile guidance radars employed,
covered a very wide frequency range which made it very difficult to counter all of them effectively. In addition to this, optical and radar directed anti-aircraft artillery
(AAA) and Infra-Red (IR) guided SAM systems that included Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS), as well as vehicle mounted systems, were also
deployed.

The conflict shifted to the border between Namibia and Angola after the Portuguese African colonies collapsed in the middle of the 1970’s. The Soviet Union
supplied Angola with an air defence network that was to a large degree based on Cold War doctrine and equipment. The air war became a serious contest between
the South African Air Force (SAAF) that strived to retain as much freedom of the air space as possible in order to carry out air operations and the opposing forces in
Angola that did everything they could to deny the SAAF that freedom. The conflict steadily increased in sophistication as time went by. Ultimately four different
radar guided SAM systems (SA-2, SA-3, SA-6 and SA-8), three types of MANPADS (SA-7, SA-14 and SA-16) and two vehicle mounted IR SAM systems (SA-9
and SA-13) were deployed in the area towards the latter stages of the conflict.
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The disputed air space stretched as far as 250 nm into Southern Angola and on occasion, even beyond that. Own radars could only be deployed in secure bases inside
Namibia (Ondangwa and Rundu). As a result, own radar coverage was quite limited when aircraft operated further north, especially at lower altitude. For example,
own radar could not detect any target at a distance of 170 nm unless they operated above 20 000 feet while targets operating at 10 000 feet could only be detected up
to a distance of 120 nm. On the other hand, as the air defence network in Southern Angola spread southwards (helped by South Africa’s agreement to withdraw its
forces from South Western Angola in 1987), the Angolan forces had full radar coverage from low level upwards, over most of the region.

Own aircraft operating in Angola at a distance of 200 nm away from own radar, could therefore only expect to be warned about enemy fighters that were operating
above 25 000 feet. They were therefore extremely vulnerable against enemy interceptors that remained below 25 000 feet – a very unhealthy situation indeed. To
aggravate the situation, own fighters had only about one to two minutes of combat fuel at that range, in order to return safely back to base. For the opposing fighters,
the situation was of course exactly the opposite.

When South Africa became involved in the conflict in Angola in the middle of the 1970s, the SAAF realised that a substantial EW capability would be needed. The
arms embargo against South Africa was however gaining momentum and it was clear that it would not be possible to procure all the required equipment from abroad.
It was therefore decided to establish a South African EW industry.

EW plays a big role in levelling the playing field when conducting air operations in hostile environments. A good Radar Warning System (RWS) can for example
provide vital information about enemy radar activity that allows aircrew to make good tactical decisions. The type and status of detected radars is given (whether the
radar is in search, track or missile guidance mode). It will also indicate the direction of the radar relative to the aircraft and give an indication of the radar’s distance
from the aircraft. It also provides warning of approaching enemy fighters as soon as their radars illuminate own aircraft. Electronic countermeasures (ECM),
nowadays also called electronic attack (EA), improve the survivability of aircraft when engaged by SAMs or AAA. Typical EA equipment includes Counter
Measures Dispensing Systems (CMDS) that dispenses radar (chaff) and IR (flare) decoys and radar jammers.

STRATEGY TO ESTABLISH THE LOCAL EW INDUSTRY

The National Institute for Defence Research (NIDR), a branch of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), was founded by the Department of
Defence (DoD) to conduct Research And Development (R&D) on identified EW requirements that often included the building of concept demonstrators. The idea
was then to transfer the data packs to industry to industrialize and manufacture the equipment.

A survey of the industry was made to identify companies with the necessary capability to manufacture such EW equipment. It was also decided that due to the
limited size of the local market, competition would not be allowed and that selected companies should specialize in specific types of EW equipment.

GRINEL BECOMES INVOLVED IN EW

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One of the consequences of the Arms Embargo was that the renowned communications equipment manufacturer Racal, withdrew from South Africa. Racal South
Africa that had specialized in the development and manufacture of High Frequency (HF) radios was therefore sold to the local construction company Grinaker who
wanted to expand and diversify its business. The company was renamed Grinel and was one of the companies considered capable of manufacturing EW equipment.
In 1978 they received their first contract for the industrialization and manufacture a CMDS designed by the NIDR. This was the first step that eventually resulted in
Grinel and later Avitronics (when the EW section of Grinel was made a separated company), becoming the systems house for self-protection Electronic Counter
Measure (ECM) equipment in South Africa.

Production was however not so straightforward. Although the NIDR’s design was functionally excellent, they lacked experience regarding the industrialisation of
the design for volume production as well as in life cycle reliability and maintainability aspects of the system. However, after a substantial redesign and a steep
learning curve, the contract was successfully executed. More than 200 systems were produced for the entire fighter/strike aircraft fleet of the SAAF (Mirage III,
Mirage F1, Buccaneer, Canberra and Impala Mk II). Some Oryx helicopters as well as C 130 transport aircraft were also equipped with the system.

Introduction of the New Generation RWS

The capability and knowledge of the EW community in the SAAF and Armscor took a big step forward with the procurement of a new generation RWS towards the
end of the 1970s. It was the first ‘software programmable’ EW system in the country. The man-machine interface consisted of a Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) display
where customer selectable symbols were displayed instead of raw video information, to indicate the type, bearing and status of detected radars. It also introduced the
concept of threat libraries that were uploaded into the RWS to identify radar emitters. This in turn brought home the importance of an Emitter Parameter Data Base
(EPDB) which is absolutely vital for the creation of threat libraries or User Data Files (UDFs) as they were later called.

The RWS also had a recording capability with a playback facility to capture and analyse radar signals detected during missions. This proved to be a useful source of
information for the EPDB, especially during actual operations when enemy air defence systems often use previously unknown modes of operation against targets that
threaten them. The “targets” equipped with the RWS, could then detect and record these “secret modes of operation” and were often the first to do so! The RWS
replaced obsolete systems that originally equipped the Mirage F1AZ attack fighters, the Buccaneer bombers and the recognisance Mirage III RZ/R2Z aircraft. The
RWS was also fitted to the SAAF’s signal intelligence (SIGINT) DC4 and Boeing 707 aircraft.

The experience and knowledge gained with the RWS program happened at a crucial time and made a valuable contribution to the EW learning curve and the
formation of the EW thought process of the South African EW community. It had a definite “domino” effect on other EW programs by the better understanding and
sophistication it brought about regarding EW and related operational matters. It raised the quality of user requirements and specifications for other EW programs that
had very positive and long term benefits.

Grinel’s EW Involvement Expands

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A large number of other SAAF aircraft types were however still without an effective radar warning capability. It included the Impala Mk II light attack aircraft, the
Canberra bombers, the Mirage F1CZ interceptors, the remainder of the Mirage III fleet i.e. the MIR III CZ, EZ, DZ and D2Z as well as the C 130 and C 160
transport aircraft and Oryx helicopters.

A license manufacturing agreement for the “Compact Radar Warning System” (CRWS) was therefore negotiated and Grinel was selected to be the manufacturer.
The CRWS had many similarities with the RWS but also some important shortcomings that had serious operational implications. The most urgent shortcoming was
its limited ability to uniquely identify detected radars. The CRWS depended primarily on measuring the pulse repetition interval (PRI) of radars in order to identify
them through a process of PRI de-interleaving. There are however many radars with similar PRIs and because the CRWS only had a wide open 2 to 18 GHz receiver,
no frequency information was available to resolve the radar ambiguity problem. Grinel found a solution by building and integrating a “quadruplexer” device into the
front end receivers of the CRWS. It divided the wide open 2 to 18 GHz band into four carefully selected bands. Radars with similar PRIs but with frequencies in
different quadruplexer bands could then be distinguished from each other. It helped considerably in resolving the radar ambiguity problem to a more acceptable
level.

Establishment of Grintek Avitronics

The EW activities in Grinel had within a decade grown to such an extent that the board of Grintek (established to oversee the electronic business side of Grinaker)
decided to create a separate company that would focus primarily on EW. Grinel could then again concentrate only on their core HF radio communications business.

Grintek Avitronics was thus founded in 1988. The majority of the original EW team within Grinel moved to Avitronics as well as a number of EW knowledgeable
engineers and technicians from Armscor and the SAAF. Avitronics was destined to become involved with the support and upgrading of EW systems already in
service with the SAAF as well as in designing and manufacturing new equipment to counter threats and solve operational problems encountered in the Border War.
The know-how and experience accumulated during this exciting period contributed immensely in putting the company in the position to develop the EW systems that
followed in the next decade.

Upgrading of the SAAF’s Radar Jamming Pods

The SAAF had acquired some radar jammers in the early 1980’s that to a large extent were self-contained in pods with a ram air turbine that generated its own
power. There were two types of jammers – noise and deception jammers that could be mounted underneath the wings or the fuselage of the fighter/attack aircraft it
protected. The escalating threat situation in the operational area however reached the stage where the jammers could not provide the necessary protection anymore
and it was clear that a substantial upgrade would be required.

The deception jamming pods could for example, not distinguish between different tracking radars and responded with the same ECM technique, irrespective of the
kind of tracking the radar used. This was far from ideal and in many cases ineffective. Avitronics therefore modified the pods to enable them to identify radars and

67
to respond against each radar type with much more effective threat-specific jamming techniques. It also allowed the pods to respond simultaneously to multiple
threats with different jamming techniques. These pod improvements showed their value during actual operations by breaking radar lock-on and preventing missile
launches from sophisticated SAM systems like the SA-8.

The pods were also modified to become UDF driven. It allowed the pod to compare received signal parameters with data in the UDF and if they were correlated, the
radar could be identified. The pod’s response was also according to the UDF that contained multiple ECM techniques specifically developed to defeat different types
of tracking radar. The upgrade program, needless to say, played a big role in establishing a very capable radar jammer capability in the company.

EW System Support
The EW support capability within the SAAF took a major step forward with the establishment the EW Centre. In addition to the normal repair and maintenance, the
EW centre also provided Operational System Support (OSS). The purpose of operational system support is to ensure that EW systems are continuously kept in a
combat ready status. It includes the updating of the EPDB with the latest available intelligence in order to update UDFs with the most recent data and ECM
techniques. All the EW systems in the SAAF including ELINT systems, COMINT systems, ESM systems, RWS, radar jammers and CMDS benefitted from the
OSS. The EW industry’s involvement in this process was selective and largely determined by the systems supplied by the different companies. The involvement
increased as time went by.

As the product portfolio of Avitronics expanded and the company entered the export market, the company’s systems support responsibility to foreign customers also
increased accordingly. System support therefore became a substantial activity within the company. Implementing innovative ideas into products with regard to
testing, identifying faulty components as well as fast and accurate creation of new UDFs and support tools became additional product selling points. More will be
said about this when the Integrated Defensive Aids System (IDAS) is discussed.

Development of an Anti-Radiation Seeker Head

The escalating air defence network in Southern Angola was progressively impeding on the ability of the
SAAF to conduct air operations. Towards the latter phase of the conflict, only aircraft equipped with comprehensive self-protection EW suites and navigation and
attack systems that allowed the execution of elusive attacking profiles, were still able to carry out meaningful air operations. As already mentioned, nine different
Soviet supplied SAM types were deployed in the area, included four types of radar guided and five types of passive (IR) heat seeking SAM systems. The number,
type and capability of Soviet supplied fighter/attack aircraft (Mig 21, Mig 23, Su 22 and Su 25) also increased steadily throughout the conflict. All the associated
early warning, Ground Control Intercept (GCI) and height finder radars were of course also present. This comprehensive and overlapping air defence network made
it increasingly difficult to penetrate the Angolan airspace and especially to achieve surprise in order to minimize the risk of suffering losses.

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An operational requirement was therefore generated for an anti-radiation drone system. The concept was that the anti-radiation drones, equipped with a wideband
radar seeker head and a specially designed warhead, would be launched in a selected area where they would search for early warning, GCI and SAM acquisition
radars. They would then home-in and attack the radars in a near vertical dive to neutralise them.

The contract for the development of the seeker head was awarded to Grinel/Avitronics in the late 1980’s. The seeker head covered the frequency band 0.5 to 18 GHz
and to achieve the necessary angle of arrival accuracy, it made use of amplitude and phase comparison techniques rather than just amplitude comparison as used in
radar warning systems.

The development proceeded well and the seeker head, mounted on a purposely built frame that realistically simulated the drone, underwent successful flight trials on
an Oryx helicopter. The system however never went into production when the war ended in 1989 and the requirement disappeared. The technology established was
nevertheless very useful and implemented in the Emitter Location System (ELS) that is discussed later.

Acquisition of EM Lab and Integration with Avitronics

EM Lab was a highly specialized and innovative company that designed and manufactured microwave components and antennas. Their antennas and microwave
components were used by various local customers. Their 2 to 18 GHz spiral antennas were, for example, used for the CRWS production. They also produced the
difficult to build, very high precision phase matched spiral antennas for the anti- radiation seeker head and the ELS that followed later.

In 1991, Grintek made use of the opportunity to procure EM Lab and merged them with Avitronics during the next year due to the synergy between the two
companies. The merger practically made Avitronics strategically independent in manufacturing complete EW systems.

Avitronics Expands into the Maritime Domain

The incorporation of EM Lab effectively gave Avitronics an entry into the maritime world as EM Lab was already involved with the South African Navy (SAN) and
had a branch in Cape Town. They were at the time doing specialized EW maintenance work on the SAN’s Strike Craft and submarines. Even though it was mainly
maintenance work, new technology had to be developed to design and manufacture substitute microwave components that were either discontinued or could not be
procured as a result of the arms embargo.

The SAN then embarked on a life extension program for the Strike Craft that involved the upgrade of the combat suite, including the EW system. The company
Delcon Control Systems acted as the main contractor and system integrator, and a close working relationship was developed between all the local EW companies
involved.

The EW system consisted of an Electronic Intelligence (ELINT)/Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system with a wide- and narrowband receiver, integrated with
the rocket decoy system as well as a radar jamming system that had both deception and noise jamming capabilities. An Electronic Warfare Controller (EWC) with
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 the appropriate Human-Machine Interface (HMI) was developed to integrate and manage all the available EW resources to ensure optimal response to threats and
allowing the integration of EW data into the Action Information System.
The optimisation and upgrades of the antennas and front-end receivers of the ESM and ELINT system was sub-contracted to Avitronics. The technology
established with this program later became the foundation of the company’s future maritime EW work after Delcon was also incorporated into Avitronics.

Delcon was a company with a lot of systems expertise and experience in the naval environment. Delcon and Avitronics had already developed a close working
relationship when the opportunity to join the two companies arose in 1997. Grintek procured Delcon which then became part of Avitronics. The maritime systems
capability of Delcon combined with the existing product-level capabilities within Avitronics, gave the company’s overall maritime capability a huge boost which
proved invaluable in the success that was subsequently achieved in the local and global maritime EW market.

Development of a Continuous Wave (CW) Radar Jammer

In the latter phase of the Border War, the Soviet Union supplied Angola with the final version of the variable sweep Mig 23 fighter or “Flogger” (the NATO
designation). It was equipped with an improved version of the “High Lark” airborne intercept radar and the advanced version of the semi-active AA-7 Missile. This
front sector, beyond visual range missile, gave their Cuban and on occasion Russian pilots, an exclusive advantage over the SAAF’s primary air superiority fighter,
the Mirage F1CZ. It effectively gave them a first shot capability during front sector engagements which resulted in an F1 CZ being seriously damaged in a
subsequent engagement. The pilot managed to execute an emergency landing but sustained severe and permanent injuries in the process.

There was no way that a missile with similar or better performance could be developed and produced in the short term – especially as it would have required a
virtually new radar for the FICZ as well. Denying the Migs the use of their exclusive advantage by electronic counter-measures was the only way to level the playing
field again. A continuous wave radar jammer to deceive the semi-active seeker head of the advanced AA-7 missile was therefore developed. The operational,
installation and time requirements were very severe:

- The jammer had to be fitted internally to limit aerodynamic drag increases to the absolute minimum as the F1CZ’s performance was already marginal against the Mig
23.
- To limit aircraft modifications to the absolute minimum, the existing man-machine interface in the cockpit had to be used.
- The jammer had to provide its own cooling as the aircraft’s cooling system was already at maximum capacity.
- The system had to make provision to handle all the known Soviet semi-active radar air-to-air missiles, including those not yet deployed in the region. It also had to be
able to jam semi-active radar SAM systems like the SAM-6 that were already present in Angola.
- The jammer had to provide protection in both the front and rear sectors.

The initial contract was placed on EM Lab but became an Avitronics responsibility after the merger. Solutions were found for all the requirements and the complete
development, including the integration and qualification on the aircraft, was completed in the amazingly short time of two years! As with the anti-radiation drone
project, no production order was placed as a result of the end of the Border War.
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A Small World. An interesting incident happened in Malaysia at a defence exhibition in the early 1990s where Avitronics exhibited as part of the South African
Defence Industry pavilion. Malaysia had recently procured the Mig 29 fighter - the first country not previously in the former Soviet Union’s sphere of influence to
do so. The leader of the Russian team responsible for the successful sale, showed a particular interest in the CW radar jammer displayed on the Avitronics stand. He
remarked that he had never seen such a compact jammer and thought that it would enhance the Mig 29’s attractiveness in the world market. The reasons and events
that led to the jammer’s development were then explained to him which
made it clear why the jammer was unsuitable for the Mig 29 (its primary purpose being to counter Russian air to air semi-active radar missiles). After a pause he
responded that he also had something to tell us but only if we promise not to punch him on the nose…… It turned out that he was the person in charge of the delivery
of that final version of the Mig 23 to Angola!

He was actually a very likable person and so, instead of punching him on the nose, a beer was shared afterwards! A small world indeed….

THE CONSEQUENCES THAT THE END OF THE BORDER WAR HAD ON THE DEFENCE INDUSTRY
The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the 1980’s ended the Cold War that had dominated world events ever since the Second World War. It also provided
the opportunity to normalise the internal political situation in South Africa and South Africa’s relationship with the international community as well. It also created
the environment for peace accord negotiations between the opposing parties involved in the Angolan War which in turn, paved the way for Namibia’s independence.

The end of the conflict had a huge impact on the South African Defence Force. Conscription ended, the Armed Forces started to downscale with the accompanying
reduction of military requirements and expenditure. The normalisation of South Africa’s domestic politics and international relations also started the lifting of the
arms embargo that had lasted more than thirty years.

The combined effect of large defence expenditure cuts, the additional competition from foreign companies that entered the domestic market and the internal political
changes, had far reaching consequences for the South African defence industry. Alternative strategies to remain viable had to be found and one of these was
rationalisation, which manifested itself in the restructuring, acquisition and mergers of companies. Another strategy was to enter the international defence market
which fortunately had become accessible to South African companies for the first time in decades.

Note: The rationalisation and restructuring of the defence industry, was not only limited to South Africa but was a worldwide phenomenon due to the global
reduction in defence spending after the Cold War ended.

Avitronics’ Strategy

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EW is usually only fully appreciated during war time when it is important to limit the loss of life and assets. However, as soon as hostilities cease and defence
expenditure reduces, EW is often among the first capabilities targeted to accommodate budget cuts. Avitronics, specialising in EW, was therefore particularly
vulnerable.

The company adopted a two-pronged strategy. The first was to enter the international export market to compensate for declining local EW requirements and the
second strategy was to diversify.

 Export marketing drive. When the door to the global defence market opened, Avitronics entered this unknown and daunting world with a lot of enthusiasm
and optimism. As a new player in the highly competitive international EW market, there were however many things to learn and to overcome before the
first successes were achieved.

The competition consisted of well-established, renowned companies from countries with historical, diplomatic, economic and military ties in many customer
countries. This gave them advantages that had nothing to do with the quality or performance of their EW equipment. Countries like the USA, France, the UK, Italy
and Russia are also suppliers of main combat platforms. When such platforms are sold, they are often already equipped with their own country’s EW equipment that
is offered as part of a package deal – especially in government-to-government deals. It then becomes extremely difficult to get equipment onboard such platforms.
Avitronics, an unknown entity ‘out of Africa’, had to overcome a lot of prejudice to convince customers that the company had the technology and know-how to
satisfy their requirements – especially as EW is often one of the areas where newly developed leading-edge technologies, are first employed.
The products that Avitronics initially marketed were more or less on par with the competition. However, having products that satisfy customer requirements, only
means that you are a contender. Winning contracts requires much more and it was soon realized that products were needed with price and/or performance advantages
over competitors. Systems with such advantages were however still under development and the company therefore intensified its efforts to make them available as
soon as possible.
 Avitronics Diversifies. The decision to diversify was an effort to reduce the company’s dependence on EW. The idea was not so much to develop and
manufacture commercial electronic products, but rather to trade with attractive niche products manufactured by other companies.

Another company in the Grintek group, Grintek Agencies, was already involved in such business. They acted as agents for selected niche products manufactured by
companies that did not have their own marketing structures in South Africa. Grintek Agencies was then merged and integrated with Avitronics which contributed in
making the diversification strategy viable and successful.

Diversification also took place in the system support side of the company when the company Delgi was acquired. They were responsible for the maintenance and
support in South Africa of air traffic control (ATC) radars manufactured by the British company Marconi. It was substantial business because many Marconi ATC
radars were operated throughout South Africa.

Establishment of Grintek Electronics

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The diversification in Avitronics was quite successful but demanded considerable management time. Most of the diversification activities had virtually no synergy
with the company’s core EW business and began to have a negative impact on this core business, especially because it had divided the management. The Grintek
board therefore created a new company called Grintek Electronics, and moved all the non-EW activities from Avitronics to Grintek Electronics in 1998. Avitronics
fortunately received their first major export order for EW equipment in the beginning of 1999, making the company’s future more secure.

Discussions leading up to the Defence Procurement Packages (discussed later) also played a role in the establishing Grintek Electronics. Companies selected as main
contractors had substantial counter-trade obligations to fulfil. Competing companies therefore investigated local business opportunities and some of them became
very interested in co-operation ventures with Avitronics – even beyond just complying with the counter-trade obligations. The interest was however confined to EW.
Having moved all other activities to Grintek Electronics therefore smoothed the way to conclude the co-operation agreements that would later materialise.

NEW GENERATION PRODUCTS

The experience gained with the development, production, upgrade and support of EW equipment for the
South African Defence Force, plus the lessons learnt during the Border War, placed the company in a favourable position to define and develop new EW products at
the beginning of the 1990s. The company invested a lot of resources and money into this effort and was also fortunate to receive substantial support from the DoD
which had formulated a far sighted policy in support of the local defence industry. One of the findings of the Defence Review during this period was that EW was
identified as a strategic asset that had to be retained. The DoD therefore provided R&D funds to help the industry become more competitive in the international
market so that they could stand a better chance to survive while having to cope with diminishing domestic orders.

There were many factors that contributed and shaped the progressive and innovative mindset in the company during this time:

 Escalation of the Border War. As already mentioned when discussing the circumstances that led to the establishment of the Defence Industry, the
operational environment in the Border War became more and more sophisticated since new weapon systems were introduced as the war progressed. When
a new threat appeared, ways had to be found to overcome it, usually by a combination of operational doctrine and technical (often EW) solutions.

 Operational Experience Obtained in the Border War. The importance of the experience gained during the conflict cannot be over emphasized. It gave new
meaning to the saying ‘there are always things you did not know that you did not know’! A lot was learnt about EW that other people did not know and
some of the lessons learnt went beyond the functional performance ‘what’ and ‘how’ issues of EW systems. They also included system support and
installation and integration aspects of systems to allow quick and affordable installations and upgrades of systems to cope with fast changing operational
environments. The steep war-time learning curve propelled the company to the technology forefront with the EW systems that were subsequently
developed.

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  Field Testing and Evaluation (T&E). An effective EW capability cannot be established unless the EW equipment is regularly subjected to thorough and
comprehensive T&E. Very practical and innovative T&E facilities were therefore developed that included laboratory facilities as well as a mobile outdoor
EW range. The outdoor range accommodated realistically deployed RF and EO threat systems of which many had been captured during the Border War.
The range facilities could accommodate controlled and operational T&E that included realistically flown operational profiles by participating aircraft.
Engagement data were captured and displayed in order to determine the outcome of the engagements and the effectiveness of the EW.

Being able to execute such exercises made it possible to determine the individual and combined effectiveness of tactics and ECM. A great deal was learnt from these
T&E exercises and they played an important part in making the company’s EW systems competitive and successful on the world market.

Development of a New Generation Fully Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS)

The integrated Multi Sensor Warning System (MSWS), as IDAS was initially called, was in many ways novel and provided significant advantages over
competing systems. IDAS, which became the company’s most successful export product, did not happen by co-incidence but was the result of a combined, deliberate
and focused effort by people with many years of technical, operational, marketing and management experience. In addition to the already mentioned factors that
brought about the mind-set and ability to develop innovative new products, the following issues and programmes particularly contributed in defining and developing
IDAS:

 The MANPADS Threat. The shoulder launched SA-7 MANPADS was a serious threat for virtually the full duration of the conflict in Southern Africa. A
program to reduce the IR signature of aircraft conducted at the NIDR, went some way in reducing the SA-7’s effectiveness. It involved painting of aircraft
with special non-reflective paints and screening and cooling of hot areas on aircraft like engine exhaust pipes. It was however only practical for piston
engine aircraft with relatively small IR signatures. Other aircraft had to rely on the dispensing of IR flare decoys to prevent being hit when engaged. There
are however only a few seconds available between missile launch and missile impact for detecting the missile and dispensing the flares. Heat seeking
missiles are however usually launched from the rear sector of aircraft and are therefore difficult to detect visually by the crew. A better solution had to be
found and became even more urgent with the appearance of more advanced and lethal MANPADS like the SA-14 and SA-16 as well as the vehicle
mounted SA-9 and SA-13. There was therefore a lot of incentive and motivation to development a Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS).

 Development of MAWS. The electro-optical department of the National Institute for Advanced Systems Technology (NIAST), formally the NIDR,
responded with a R&D program to establish technology for detecting passive missiles. The technology pursued was based on detection of the Ultra-violet
(UV) radiation of the missile’s solid fuel rocket motor from launch until rocket motor burn-out. The technology was very promising but the expertise to
turn it into a product did not exist in the industry. By mutual agreement, the NIAST team of experts joined Avitronics where a UV based MAWS was fully
developed and put onto production. The MAWS and the Laser Warning System (LWS) which were developed for the Rooivalk helicopter, resulted in the
establishment an Electro-Optical (EO) department in Avitronics. This put the company in a position to manufacture the full range of multi-spectral sensors
(RWS, LWS and MAWS) needed to make a product like IDAS possible.

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  Development of the Rooivalk Attack Helicopter’s EW Suite. Attack helicopters have played prominent roles in many conventional and unconventional
wars since their conception in late 1950s/early 1960s. The local requirement for an attack helicopter evolved from the drawn-out Border War but the Arms
Embargo prevented any chance of satisfying the requirement from abroad. A program to develop an indigenous attack helicopter was therefore initiated at
the NIDR in 1977. A concept demonstrator, based on the Alouette III platform, flew in 1980. Full scale development of Rooivalk started at the Atlas
Aircraft Corporation in 1984. Avitronics was contracted for the EW system that specified a state of the art, integrated EW Suite with low mass, volume and
power consumption.

The Rooivalk specification included a new generation RWS with higher sensitivity, better Probability Of Intercept (POI), wider frequency coverage, an internal
Instantaneous Frequency Measurement (IFM) module and the ability to create and upload UDFs much quicker. It also asked for a LWS and a CMDS. The LWS was
a new requirement that originated from the threat that anti-tank weapons, making use of laser range finders and designators, posed to helicopters when conducting
‘Nap Of the Earth’ (NOE) operations in hostile environments. The development of the Rooivalk EW suite was jointly funded by the government and Avitronics and
had a significant influence on the formulation of the IDAS concept.

 The Cheetah Upgrade Programme. The initial Cheetah Programme i.e. the upgrade of the SAAF’s Mirage III fleet (based on the Israeli KFIR) also got
underway in the early 1980’s. The highly advanced EW system of the Cheetah addressed significant South African requirements that originated from the
operational experience gained in the Border War. The system consisted of an integrated RWS with an internal IFM, CMDS and a sophisticated Radar
Jammer. The RWS antennas, front-end receivers and CMDS were designed and produced by Avitronics. The company was also involved in the support of
the EW system. The follow-on Cheetah programme of the late 1980’s specified many improvements that included a wider RWS frequency coverage. The
Cheetah program provided a significant know-how and technology boost that undoubtedly also contributed to the company’s approach and thinking about
EW systems, including IDAS.

 Integration and Installation Issues. Installing and integrating EW systems on aircraft is a complicated, costly and time consuming undertaking. Many
aircraft like fighters and helicopters have limited space, cooling and electricity supply to accommodate additional systems. They are also sensitive to
increases in mass, shifts in the centre of gravity of the aircraft and increases in aerodynamic drag. Every effort should therefore be taken to make the task
easier. These needs, plus improving reliability and performance, were the main drivers for the high level of integration achieved with the Avitronics IDAS
system.

IDAS main features:

A single Electronic Warfare Controller (EWC) replaced the four separate processing units of the RWS, LWS, MAWS and CMDS. It provided IDAS with a modular
and flexible architecture that allowed users to tailor the system according to their current requirements while allowing them growth path options to the full system
with minimal impact on platform availability. This was achieved by following an approach to fit their platforms ‘for’ but not ‘with’ the full system during the initial
installation program.

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The HMI consisted of a dedicated full colour Threat Display and Control Unit (TDCU) that accommodated all the control and display functions of all the sub-
systems. A combination of customer definable symbols, the positioning of the symbols and use of colour, ensured clear and precise display of threat information.
Audio signals further enhanced the situational awareness of the aircrew. The serviceability and operating status as well as remaining decoy quantities was also
displayed on the TDCU. RWS, MAWS, LWS and CMDS control, self-test functions as well as the selection of different UDF’s according to the mission type and
area of operation were also selectable on the TDCU.

The system’s low box count and the wide range of interfaces (1553B, ARINC 429, RS232, RS 422 and RS 485) provided to other onboard systems, made the
installation and integration of IDAS easier, less time consuming and less costly.

Sophisticated built-in self-test routines continuously monitored the system and alerted the crew of any faults. More detailed displays to identify specific faults for
on-task go, no-go decision making were also selectable. More elaborate test routines to identify specific defective components to enable fast and accurate repair turn-
around times, could also be carried out by maintenance personnel after aircraft returned from missions.

IDAS sub-system and support system features:

 RWS. The high receiver sensitivity and wide dynamic range enables the system to simultaneously detect multiple pulse-Doppler and other modern low
powered radars together with conventional high powered radars. The extremely wide-band frequency coverage detects radars from 0,7 GHz up to 40 GHz.
The system also measures the angle of arrival of signals throughout the whole band. This was accomplished by means of unique wide-band spiral antennas
that not only improve performance but also reduce the number of antennas required to cover the required frequency band from at least nine to only four.

An internal wide-band IFM utilizing Digital Frequency Discriminator (DFD) technology, accurately measures radar frequency and virtually eliminates radar
identification ambiguities. The powerful processing power handles pulse densities in excess of a few million pulses per second and ensures a very high POI against
acquisition (scanning) radars. Early detection of acquisition radars is particularly important for helicopters to avoid entering kill zones of radar based SAM systems
since they cannot exit quickly again due to their relatively low speed.

 LWS: The LWS has a near 100% POI against single-pulse laser range finders as well as the sensitivity required to detect low-powered target designator and
beam-rider missile guidance lasers. It further has wide wave-length coverage (0,5 – 1,7 µm) that enables the detection of “eye safe” and CO2 lasers which
operate at longer wave-lengths. It will also alert aircrew of illegal “dazzler” lasers used to damage the eyes of aircrew.

The LWS classifies the type of laser (range finders, designators, missile guidance lasers etc.) and uniquely identifies pulsed laser threats depending on the
availability of the relevant threat library data. The direction finding capability enables helicopters to take avoidance action by making use of terrain masking when
conducting NOE operations.

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  MAW. The UV based MAW has a near 100% probability of warning without degrading the all-important short response time requirement (considering the
time to impact of a short range missile launch is only two to three seconds). False alarm rates of UV based systems are inherently lower than IR based
systems due to the lower presence of natural and man-made UV sources in comparison to IR sources. False alarms are however further reduced by the
implementation of a neural-net based classifier rather than a rule-based one. The system also inhibits response against diverging missiles. Countermeasure
response is optimised to ensure timely reaction (constant time to impact) for enhanced effectiveness. Angle of arrival resolution is good enough to cue
Directional Infra-Red Counter Measures (DIRCM) systems and to ensure that IR decoys are dispensed in the most effective direction.

 CMDS. The CMDS features low mass and low box-count. This was achieved by replacing the control box with a single control card that resides in the
Electronic Warfare Controller (EWC) of IDAS. As already said, all CMDS selections and display of decoy quantities are done on the TDCU, making a
dedicated CMDS cockpit control unit redundant.

 System Support.

 Man-Portable Testers. Operations-level (O-level) man-portable testers were developed to verify the serviceability of the radar, laser and missile warning
systems by injecting appropriate signals into the antennas and sensors on the flight line, prior to missions.
 Memory Loading Unit (MLU). A MLU to upload new UDFs and download data recorded during missions or failures detected by the built-in self-test
function, is also provided.
 Test Benches. Intermediate level (I-level) test benches can be configured to test the complete system, separate sub systems or individual units. The test
results are captured in the maintenance database. To speed up the repair maintenance process, O-level test results are used to initiate automatic I-Level
maintenance test routines. I-Level test benches can also be expanded to depot level (D-level) standards for customers with such requirements.
 Threat Library Management System (TLMS). A TLMS that provides a fast and effective OSS was also developed. Fast adaption of existing or the
compilation of new UDFs was made possible by means of the user friendly UDF compiler. The Flight Data Analyser (FDA) enabled fast and accurate
playback and analysis of data captured by the comprehensive recording capability of IDAS. New signal parameters could then be incorporated into the
customer’s EPDB which could in turn again result in the creation of new UDFs - to complete the circle!
 In the discussion of how Grinel became involved in EW earlier in the chapter, the importance of an EPDB for the creation of UDFs was already emphasized.
An EPDB however has to be well structured to allow the entering and storage of emitter data in a logical and systematic way in order to make it easily
accessible for the generation of appropriate reports and the compilation of UDFs. An EPDB structure developed by the company is available for customers
that have the requirement to be independent in the creation of their own UDFs.

IDAS is continuously undergoing upgrades as new technology becomes available and is implemented. It has become even more compact in the process while the
performance improvements keep it at the top of what is available on the world market. It is expected that IDAS will remain being an internationally sought-after EW
self-protection system for years to come.
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Multi-role Rocket Launcher (MRL) Development.
The MRL development for maritime application initially started at Delcon as a technology study sponsored by Armscor. The study included a technology demonstrator with an EW
Controller (EWC) that determined the best “soft-kill solution” to deploy the decoys. MRL was roll and pitch stabilized and could therefore ensure that decoys were deployed at an
optimal direction and distance away from the ship, independent of the vessel’s movement.

The tactical advantage of MRL was that the vessel did not have to manoeuvre to deploy decoys in the desired direction as is the case with conventional fixed rocket launchers. The
MRL could therefore react much faster which is an important factor, especially in littoral waters, where the time-line can be much more critical. There might also be other tactical
considerations why the vessel should or cannot manoeuvre to deploy decoys. MRL therefore allowed more options during combat situations and possible multiple missile attacks.
The technology demonstrator was successful which led to further development and eventual production with the procurement of the Navy’s frigates as part of the Strategic Defence
Packages in 1999.

Electronic Surveillance Payload (ESP)

The requirement for an ELINT / ESM system that could be deployed on Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) platforms was identified in conjunction with the UAV
manufacturer Denel Dynamics. In order to fit on UAV platforms, ESP was therefore developed to be a compact, low mass system consisting of only a control and
processor unit and an antenna array.

ESP provides real-time information of the Enemy Electronic Order Of Battle (EEOB) in the frequency range 0.5 to 18 GHz and simultaneously detects both CW and
pulsed radar signals. It has a wide open acquisition receiver that provides a near 100% POI of all emitters within the frequency band and an analysis receiver that
measures the detailed parameters of intercepted signals. Intercepted data is processed onboard for immediate threat recognition. The real-time data is transmitted to
the UAV ground station by the same data link used for the control of the UAV. This real-time information enables commanders to make quality command and
control decisions during actual operations. Raw ELINT data is stored on-board for post flight, off-line analysis and is a useful additional source of information to
update the EPBD.

The system’s small size presented some demanding technical and performance challenges. To achieve the required DF accuracy, the antenna array was split into two
sets of phase matched antennas, covering 0,5 to 6 GHz and 6 to 18 GHz. Both amplitude and phase comparison techniques, developed for the anti-radiation seeker
head, were implemented to achieve accuracies of typically 1° to 1.5° in the 2-18 GHz frequency band and 3.5° at 0.5 GHz. The total mass of the complete system
was kept below 16 kg.

The system was initially called the Emitter Location System (ELS) but was later renamed ESP as the purpose of the system involved more than just the
determination of the location of emitters.

Digital Radio Frequency Memory (DRFM)

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The on-going technology race between EW and the weapon systems manufacturers is a fascinating subject. Billions are spent to stay ahead or at least to remain
effective. Advantages gained are usually relatively short-lived before a counter is found by yet another new technology innovation.

The introduction of coherent radars is a good example. Coherent radars are able to reject received pulses that do not have the correct phase relationship to the radar’s
own pulses. This practically made analogue jammers useless against coherent radars.

The EW response was the development of DRFM devices that capture the phase of radar pulses received and re-transmit jamming pulses with the appropriate phase
to avoid rejection by the coherent radar, thus making the jamming effective. It has to be appreciated that this has to happen in the nanosecond time-domain. The only
way to achieve it, is digitally.

Avitronics commenced with local DRFM development in the early 1990’s. Jamming by DRFM was successfully demonstrated by the middle 1990s. This was no
mean feat considering that the first DRFM research and development program had only started in the early 1980s in the USA.

Many Avitronics DRFMs have been exported and are used in the radar jammers of fighters and other aircraft.

Land Electronic Defence System (LEDS)

EW in the land battle traditionally revolved around the intelligence function of EW. It focussed on the interception of enemy communications, the extraction of the
message content and when it was deemed necessary, the disruption of the communications, mainly by jamming. Since the closing stages of the First World War,
mobility and protection was provided by armoured vehicles. The use of EW and specifically EA, was not considered a viable option since the primary focus was on
the improvement of passive armour to stop munitions from penetrating the vehicle.

This inevitably resulted in a competition between munitions manufacturers that developed armour-piercing ammunition and combat vehicle manufacturers that
endeavoured to stay ahead by adding more armour and improving the armour. It however made combat vehicles progressively heavier and more cumbersome , to the
point that combat vehicles have actually become terrain restricted. The conventional land warfare doctrine of frontal attack had the effect that the armour was mostly
concentrated to protect the frontal arc of combat vehicles. This approach left the vehicles quite vulnerable to attack from the sides, the rear and from above but was
still considered acceptable in conventional warfare doctrine. Things changed however in the post-Cold War asymmetric type of warfare, especially in urban
environments where there are no defined battle lines and where the enemy becomes indistinguishable from the civilian population with whom they blend in. Attacks
now occur from any direction, at any time and often from very close range.

The vehicle weight factor prohibits the addition of more armour to protect the vulnerable areas of combat vehicles and other solutions had to be found. The South
African Army started addressing this problem in the mid-1990s. As part of a feasibility study, a team visited countries in Europe and the Middle East with renowned
track records in armoured warfare. It soon became clear that a suitable solution did not exist anywhere and the only way forward was to find a local solution.
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After discussing the issue with Avitronics, the LWS 200 which had been developed for the Rooivalk helicopter, was evaluated on a Ratel infantry fighting vehicle as
part of a possible ‘soft kill’ solution. The idea was that when a laser is detected, smoke grenades would be launched in the direction from where the illumination
originated, in order to obscure the vehicle. The launch of the associated weapons would then either be inhibited and/or the vehicle can be manoeuvred behind the
smoke screen to prevent the launched guided missile(s) from hitting the vehicle. The results were encouraging but it was clear that more development of the LWS
would be needed for the land environment.

A specific LWS for combat vehicle application, the LWS-CV, was developed but during trials in European winter conditions, serious reflection problems in the
snow and forested areas were identified. A more reflection-resistant laser sensor was therefore developed.

The LEDS concept which made provision for both soft-kill and hard-kill solutions was then formulated. LEDS 50 was a soft-kill option that consisted of a new
Active Defence Controller, the ADC 100, the new LWS 300 sensors with improved angular accuracy and the LWS 500 which was a dedicated reflection-
management sensor. The system was integrated with the command and control system of the vehicle and the smoke grenade launchers. LEDS 50 proved to be quite
successful and a considerable quantity of systems was exported to a European customer.

The limitation of fixed, turret-mounted launchers is that the entire turret needs to turn in order to launch smoke grenades in the required direction. This process is too
slow to achieve smoke deployment inside the attacker’s engagement cycle and could also be in conflict with other priorities, for example engaging other targets with
the turret mounted cannon! A steerable launcher that rapidly turns to the desired direction independent of the vehicle’s and/or turret’s movement, solves not only this
problem but can also be used for a hard kill solution i.e. launch counter-munitions to intercept and neutralise projectiles fired at the vehicle. Development of such a
High Speed Directed Launcher (HSDL) to overcome the disadvantages of fixed turret-mounted launchers was therefore undertaken. The initial development was a
joint effort between Avitronics and Bellingan Engineering Development. The work later continued with a co-operation agreement between Saab EDS and Curtiss-
Wright from Switzerland.

The initial (1st generation) system consisted of a single 12 grenade launcher but it proved to be too big and created on-vehicle obscuration problems. Two smaller
six-shot launchers (2nd generation), mounted on either side of the vehicle to alleviate the obscuration problem, were therefore developed. LEDS 100, consisting of
LWS sensors integrated with two high speed directed launchers, was subsequently exported to a Middle East customer as an advanced soft-kill solution.

Prototype development of a hard-kill version, LEDS 150, began in 2005. It consisted of LWS sensors, purpose designed radar sensors for threat projectile acquisition
and tracking and HSDL launchers that carried a combination of ‘soft kill’ smoke grenades as well as the Denel Dynamics Mongoose-1 projectile, designed to engage
and neutralise missiles and projectiles directed at the vehicle.

The radar sensor had to solve a unique challenge in the sense that it had to declare multiple valid threat tracks in less than 25 milliseconds after detection. This
requirement is driven by the need to detect and defeat multiple rocket projectile grenade (RPG) attacks across the width of a street! After some trials with a radar
sensor from an overseas supplier, certain shortcomings were identified in handling multiple targets. A local development of a radar based sensor was therefore
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initiated in a co-operation between Saab Avitronics and Reutech Radar Systems. After Proof-of-Concept demonstrations in the USA, the radar sensor RAD 150,
became the primary LEDS sensor. Laser warning sensors were however retained as an option to allow for a soft-kill solution against laser-based anti-armour threats.

Further development of the LWS was initiated as a direct result of the proliferation of next generation laser beam-rider anti-tank missiles like the AT-14 “Kornet”.
The emitted laser energy required for the guidance of the latest generation of laser beam rider threats like the AT-14E, is less than 5W/m2. The laser is further also
intelligently managed over range to make detection more difficult. The result was the development of the LWS 310 with sufficient sensitivity to detect the AT-14
type laser beam rider threats at a stand-off distance which still allows effective use of soft-kill countermeasures. The LWS 310 further had improved angle-of-arrival
measurement accuracy and the capability to detect latest generation multi-pulse laser range finders. The LWS310 subsequently became the standard LWS sensor for
LEDS.

LEDS 50 was upgraded to the Mk II version by the addition of a new ADC-50. The ADC-50 is smaller but more powerful than the ADC 100 with more interface
options and improved control including integration of other effectors like the HSDL, remote weapon stations or directional jammers. It is also more affordable than
the previous generation.

Full scale development of LEDS 150 started in 2010, albeit at a rather slow tempo due to the global economic crisis and the impact it had on R&D funding.
Development of this baseline is ongoing and international interest and investment has been received.

The operational environment that an active protection system has to operate in is extremely challenging. In the case of a soft kill response, the entire chain from
detection to successful obscuration of the attacker’s line of sight, needs to take place in less than 1.5 sec and the crew needs to change speed or direction within 3
seconds. This requirement is driven by modern integrated fire-control systems to have a confirmed ballistic solution against moving targets within 1.5 sec. In the
case of a hard kill solution like LEDS-150, the total response cycle from detection to defeat for example, a RPG 7 launched from across a street, needs to be less than
140 ms! This requires a valid threat track in less than 25ms, calculation of the intercept point and moving the HSDL to launch position in less than 50ms and counter
projectile fly-out time (including fuse arming and warhead initiation), in less than 60ms.

A system that successfully achieves the above has major survivability and cost-of operation advantages. Hemispherical protection can be offered without major
increase in vehicle mass. The cost of defeating threats successfully now also shifts from the direct cost to repair the armour packages at around $57,000 per event, to
the cost of the counter projectile. From a tactical perspective, it also releases infantry for other tasks since closely integrated troops are no longer required to protect
combat vehicles against short range anti-tank weapons.

A thought for the future is the increasing trend to use high kinetic energy munitions as well as the emergence of high-energy laser weapons. Such threats will
introduce a new chapter in providing solutions for tomorrow where response speed and hardening against high energy weapons will become the primary design
drivers.

THE DEFENCE PACKAGE ACQUISITION PROGRAM

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One of the effects of the International Arms Embargo against South Africa that started in the 1960’s and then gradually intensified, was that many major weapon
platforms of the Defence Force had become obsolete and very expensive to maintain and operate by the time the embargo was lifted in 1994.

South Africa therefore embarked on a major acquisition program that involved new fighters, advanced jet trainers, light utility helicopters, frigates and submarines
towards the end of the 1990s. One of the important already mentioned conditions for main contractors was that they had substantial counter-trade obligations to
honour.

This opened big opportunities for the hard-pressed local defence industry when potential main contractors began to investigate what products the local industry had
to offer for export and thereby contribute to satisfying the offset counter-obligation. It also had a positive spin off by making the local capabilities more widely
known. Significant sub-contracts were placed on the local industry but some of the foreign companies also went beyond fulfilling just their counter trade obligations
when the merit of the local products and capabilities were realised. Another outcome was that the rationalisation process within the defence industry gained
momentum. A number of local companies, including Avitronics, were acquired by foreign companies in this process.

The following is a short summary of how the Defence Packages benefitted Avitronics.

 The Saab Gripen fighter. The initial main contractor for the Gripen’s EW suite was the Swedish company Celsius Tech. A mutually very beneficial co-
operation agreement was established between Avitronics and Celsius Tech in the late 1990s that not only involved equipment related to the Gripen contract,
but also involved the exchange of technology and marketing assistance in other markets.

The export version of the Gripen that South Africa procured differed in many aspects from the original version produced for the Swedish Air Force. Some of the
components of the new EW suite were supplied by Avitronics. This not only involved the South African Gripens but included Gripens supplied to other export
customers as well.

Saab Technology acquired Celsius Tech shortly afterwards. This made Saab Technology the Gripen EW suite main contractor. The co-operation with Avitronics
continued but Saab Technology also began to expand their involvement in South Africa further by procuring substantial quantities of Grintek shares.

 The British Aerospace Hawk and Agusta A129 Helicopter. The SAAF’s Hawk lead-in fighter was fitted with the RWS and CMDS subsystems of IDAS
while the A129 light helicopter was fitted for but not with the MAW and CMDS subsystems of IDAS. The idea with this approach was that when needed,
the equipment can be quickly procured and installed without first having to do the time consuming and costly modification program on the helicopters.

The same rational was also followed with Agusta for another A129 foreign customer that might still result in additional future orders for the MAW and CMDS.

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The Frigate Program. Avitronics was appointed main contractor for the full EW suite on the frigates. The experience gained and the technology established with the
Strike Craft upgrade, now proved to be invaluable as it formed the basis of the frigate EW suite. The system comprises of a Communications and Radar ESM
system, an ELINT system and EW Controllers that manage the EW system. The countermeasures included a Radar Jammer and the MRL Decoy system. The
ESM/ELINT and radar jammer systems were subcontracted to Sysdel while Avitronics supplied the MRL and the EW Controllers. Consoles containing the HMI
and hardware were also supplied by the Avitronics.

Transmitters and receivers on board platforms all compete for the best antenna mounting positions, for example, the top of a ship’s mast or in the nose of aircraft. It
invariably leads to co-location problems due to Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) between systems and compromises have to be made to accommodate the
conflicting requirements. To solve the problem on the frigates, a sophisticated adaptive blanking system was developed by the company. This blanking system
interfaced to all of the vessel’s emitters and the EW receivers. Various complex blanking schemes were developed whereby maximum EW performance was always
achieved in varying combat states. This also included the possibility of changing (adapting) the vessel’s radar modes of transmission when EW had priority. A first
for EW!

Provision was also made for a Laser Warning System on the frigates with a ‘fitted-for-but-not-with’ approach. The airborne LWS was adapted for the maritime
environment and although it was not procured for the frigates, it became very successful as an export product and several orders were achieved for customers in
Europe and the Middle East.

 The Submarine program. Avitronics was contracted to supply the radar warning receiver (RWR) and electronic support measures (ESM) system for the
submarines. The antennas for the ESM and RWR were mounted on separate periscopes. Both antennas also accommodated a GPS antenna. Both systems
however shared the same EW processor. The RWR is used to check for any radar activity prior to the submarine surfacing, especially when operating in
potentially hostile waters. It therefore has a very inconspicuous, low profile antenna which is, when raised, difficult to detect optically and by enemy radar.
When more radar information needs to be gathered, the periscope with the ESM antenna array is raised to measure, analyse and record the signal
parameters of radars in the area.

As with the frigate program, the company also supplied the consoles and equipment racks that contained the hardware and the HMI of the system.

The South African submarine program was very beneficial for the company as similar systems were exported via the German shipyard to numerous other customers
that had also procured submarines from them. A more elaborate system that includes an ELINT and COMINT capability was also developed and delivered to the
shipyard for export purposes. The physical size of the antenna array for this requirement made the design of the antenna radome particularly challenging. It had to be
robust enough to withstand enormous submerged pressures but still retain the necessary radiolucent properties so as not to compromise the system’s performance.
The ingenious design that the company’s antenna division came up with, was indeed a major achievement.

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CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP
As mentioned, the rationalisation of the local Defence Industry gained momentum with the Defence Procurement Packages.

Part of this process was Saab Technology’s increase of their shareholding in Grintek. When Saab Technology became the majority shareholder in 2005, they became
the new owners of Grintek and therefore also Avitronics.

The way the company was managed changed gradually and care was taken to retain a South African identity. The company’s name changed a number of times but
the Avitronics name was initially retained when the company became known as Saab Avitronics. The name later changed to Saab Electronic Defence Systems (Saab
EDS) but the current name Saab Grintek Defence again reflects the South African identity.

THE FUTURE
The company’s long term future looks secure with the attractive product portfolio that has been developed plus the on-going efforts to ensure that the company stays
competitive. The well respected name of Saab is a positive factor in many markets and Saab’s substantial international marketing network also gives the company
access to a broader range of potential customers.

The company has more than twenty years’ experience in international marketing and has been successful in numerous markets that include Europe, the Middle East,
South and South East Asia, the Far East, Africa and South America. The company has also established a good relationship with major platform manufacturers and in
some cases has become their preferred supplier of EW equipment.

The success of the company was recently well illustrated when Saab Grintek Defence received the “Best South African Export Company” award from the
Department of Trade and Industry for two successive years (2013 and 2014).

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