South Korea upgrades navy's Incheon-class frigate radar
Incheon-class frigate ROKS Incheon with the SPS-550K surveillance radar at its masthead. (Hyundai )
South Koreaʼs Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has completed a project to improve the performance of a search radar installed onto the Republic of Korea Navy's (RoKN's) Incheon-class Future Frigate Experimental (FFX) guided-missile frigates.
The search radar detects targets and transmits target information including direction, altitude, and distance to the command-and-control (C2) system of the vessel. It supports the fire-control system of the vessel, enhancing its survivability, DAPA said on 11 July.
It was necessary to upgrade this radar due to its “weakened cooling function” and “increased maintenance requirements of key components”, DAPA added.
“DAPA improved the cooling function by adding a refrigerant system to the environmental control unit that supplies air to the search radar and adjusting the flow of water to the system. The radar's ‘semiconductor transmit/receive assemblyʼ was also replaced from the existing low-efficiency, high-heat silicon series to a high-efficiency, low-heat gallium nitride (GaN) series. In addition, the power supply of the radar was improved by changing its electrical circuit from a series circuit structure to a parallel circuit structure,” the agency said.
DAPA added that the enhanced radar will strengthen the operational capabilities of the RoKN and survivability of the Incheon-class frigates.
According to Janes Fighting Ships , the Incheon-class frigates are equipped with LIG Nex1's SPS-550K S-band, 3D, medium-range radar with an operating frequency of 2–4 GHz.
Janes
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