In focus – the Royal Navy’s Sampson Radar
Naval radar is a highly technical and sensitive subject but here we provide a basic overview of the world-renowned SAMPSON Multi-Function Radar (MFR) that is integral to the air defence capabilities of the RN’s Type 45 destroyers.
A short history
The UK benefits from a legacy of expertise in radar, having led the world in pioneering its development during WWII. The technical foundations of the SAMPSON radar pre-date the Type 45 destroyers considerably and by the time the last unit was manufactured, represented the culmination of nearly 30 years of research and development.
The MESAR (Multi-function Electronically Scanned Adaptive Radar) programme was a technology demonstrator started in 1982 as a partnership between the MoD (DERA), Roke Manor Research and Plessey. MESAR-1 was an S-band prototype active array multifunction radar which was developed between 1989-1995. This was revolutionary, being the first example of a radar the combined Transmit/Recieve (TxRx) modules and anti-jamming digital adaptive beamforming techniques.
MESAR-2 was in development from 1995 and tested between 1999-2001 employing a new antenna design, a new T/R-module and featuring microwave solid-state power amplification and phase shifting. MESAR-2 was primarily intended to explore Ballistic Missile Defence capability and detection of low-level targets over sea and land. MESAR was never intended for production but SAMPSON built on much of the architecture they had pioneered, including gallium arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors, multiple low power modules and air cooling.
Radar was of the many reasons the UK left the Horizon frigate project in 1999 (an attempt to develop a common air defence warship with France and Italy). Needing genuine area air defence capability for its aircraft carrier group, the RN had much higher demands for long-range coverage. The Europeans planned to use the less capable EMPAR system, refusing the ‘not invented here’ SAMPSON option.
A series of mergers and take-overs through the years meant the SAMPSON project was owned by several different corporate entities through its development and manufacture. Some design work on SAMPSON, an operational derivative of the MESAR, was initiated in 1989, although not made public until 1991. Siemens-Plessy hoped it would be ready by 1994 but progress was slow, no prototype was made and MESAR-2 took priority. Plessy was taken over by a BAE Systems joint venture with Finmeccanica called Alenia Marconi Systems in 1998. This was subsequently dissolved and taken over by BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (BAES Insyte). Insyte was merged into BAES naval business in 2010.
The first three Type 45 destroyers were ordered in November 1999 and by September 2002, BAES Insyte had completed a dedicated SAMPSON test facility at their Cowes site on the Isle of Wight. The first transmission from a SAMPSON unit was made in March 2004 while the first prototype (P1) was fitted to a representative Type 45 foremast later that year. P1 completed testing in June 2006 and was transferred to the Eskmeals range in Cumbria for further trials and integration work.
In 2006 the second prototype (P2) was fitted to the Longbow barge for Aster missile live-firing trials which took place in late 2007. A third prototype (P3) was installed at the Maritime Integration and Support Center (MISC) at Portsdown hill in 2006. HMS Daring was fitted with the first production radar in April 2007 at the shipyard in Scotstoun and manufacture of the final unit for HMS Duncan was completed in July 2011.
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