Saab Sea Giraffe Naval Radar
Cmdr. Dave Back (right), executive officer of USS Independence (LCS 2) Gold Crew, conducts a tour of his ship to attendees of the Sea Giraffe Users Group at Naval Base San Diego. He is seen here showing the ship’s spacious mission bay to Cam Fung from Canada (left), and Capt. Charlie Songsawangthus and Cmdr. Sarawoot Chiyangcabut from Thailand. (Photo by Papola Kani, Consulate of Sweden, San Diego)
Ted Ackerstierna, Ted Ackerstierna, head of naval domain marketing and sales for Saab Electronic Defence Systems thanks Captain Winton Smith, commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Base at San Diego, Calif., which served as the host for the 2012 Sea Giraffe Users Group. Ackerstierna presented a signed copy of Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems by Dr. Norman Friedman. Dr. Friedman was the keynote speaker for the first day of the three day Sea Giraffe User Group workshop. (Photo
Representatives from the navies of Canada, Thailand, U.S. and Sweden attended the 2012 Sea Giraffe Users Group, held Aug. 13-16 in San Diego. (Photo by Papola Kani, Consulate of Sweden, San Diego)
Naval Radar Experts Meet to Share Experiences and Suggest Improvements
Users of the Saab Sea Giraffe naval radar are meeting this week in San Diego to share their experiences with the operation and support of the Sea Giraffe family of naval surveillance radars. The radar is well suited for small combatants, and has been installed aboard corvettes and frigates, patrol boats, and the littoral combat ship, and is in service or selected for installation with 12 navies around the world.
Sea Giraffe provides the volume search radar for USS Independence (LCS 2), one of two variants of the Navy’s littoral combat ship, and is integrated into the LCS open computing infrastructure as an element of the integrated combat system. While in San Diego, User Group attendees toured USS Independence, giving the workshop participants a unique opportunity to visualize the unique capabilities of high-speed, focused mission and reconfigurable LCS.
According to Ted Ackerstierna, head of naval domain marketing and sales for Saab Electronic Defence Systems in Gothenburg, Sweden, it’s valuable for Saab to learn what features are desired by customers so they can be evaluated for inclusion in future versions of the Sea Giraffe family.
In his welcoming remarks, Capt. Winton Smith, commanding officer of Naval Base San Diego, told the participants that they have come to San Diego during the same week as the Surface Navy Association annual West Coast Symposium on Aug. 16.
Capt. Jon Kaufmann, USN (Ret.), responsible for naval domain programs for Saab North America says the forum is intended to accomplish three goals. “We want our customers to hear from us; and we want to hear from them. Just as important, we want the representatives of the different navies here to talk to each other to compare notes and share lessons learned.”
