The Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) has contracted Raytheon to upgrade four additional Airport Surveillance Radar sites following the successful implementation of the first Wind Farm Mitigation upgrade at RNLAF's Woensdrecht Air Base. The upgrade includes technology enhancements, including WiMax interference filtering (4G filtration), and should be completed within the next 12-15 months.

Wind turbines' rotating blades generate large, moving, false targets that can deluge radars, rendering it difficult for controllers to discriminate between false and genuine aircraft targets. The upgrade comes through a combination of hardware and software changes to the primary surveillance radar system.

These changes nullify the presence of wind turbines and significantly improve the probability of detection of aircraft targets, both above and beyond wind farms. The application of this technology at Woensdrecht facilitates the extension of a nearby wind farm without impacting flying operations at the base.

Richard Daniel, managing director of Raytheon UK's Defense and Air Traffic Management business, said,

"This program represents the culmination of nearly three years of research and development effort to upgrade the complete air traffic control radar system with technology to mitigate the adverse effects on radar performance caused by wind turbines.

"We are delighted with the progress made so far, and look forward to working with the Royal Netherlands Air Force across their remaining sites."

Having demonstrated high detection probabilities in the Netherlands, Raytheon is now in discussions with customers in Europe, the United States and Canada for the deployment of this suite of mitigation solutions.