Operators, maintainers and supporters of the Sea Giraffe naval radar system will meet in San Diego for the Sea Giraffe Users Group meeting at the naval station in San Diego Aug. 13-15.
This is the second time users of the radar, manufactured by Saab Defence Systems of Gothenburg, Sweden, will meet to share information of mutual interest. The first Users group was held in Karlskrona, Sweden in 2009.
The Sea Giraffe search radar has been installed on surface combatants such as frigates, corvettes and patrol boats, and has proven to be an effective and reliable performer in very harsh operating environments.
The Australian and New Zealand Anzac-class frigates operate the system, as do the Canadian Halifax-class frigates, Malaysian Lekiu-class frigates, Poland’s Orkan frigates, and the Baynunah-class missile corvettes for the United Arab Emirates, along several other nations. The Swedish Visby-class corvette is among ships in the Swedish navy with Sea Giraffe, and the Royal Australian Navy recently selected the Sea Giraffe AMB for its Canberra-class amphibious ships. The Royal Thai Navy has announced that it has selected Saab systems, to include the Sea Giraffe AMB (Agile Multi-beam) for the aircraft carrier Chakri Naruebet. Sea Giraffe provides the volume search radar for USS Independence (LCS 2), one of two variants of the U.S. Navy’s littoral combat ship.
Visby Class stealth corvettes, representing one of several ship classes worldwide employing Sea Giraffe, on a mission in Karlskrona Waters, September 2005. Kockums photo by YPS Peter Neumann, Hamburg
Internationally renowned naval analyst and regular Faircount contributor Dr. Norman Friedman, author of numerous books including The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems and Network-Centric Warfare: How Navies Learned to Fight Smarter Through Three World Wars, will deliver the keynote address.
“Saab recognizes the value of the tremendous knowledge and expertise that our users have,” says Ted Ackerstierna, head marketing and sales, naval domain for Saab Electronic Defence Systems. “There is a lot of information they can share with each other, and we can learn a lot from them.”
The workshop is designed to help users increase their knowledge and understanding of the Sea Giraffe radar, and to develop ideas and improvements relating to operational use, settings training, logistics and performance.
Ackerstierna says Saab has a strong and ongoing interest in maintaining our customers’ satisfaction, and that Saab experts in operations, maintenance and repair, as well as logistics support will attend to brief the attendees about Sea Giraffe’s latest developments. But, he says, Saab’s experts look forward to the opportunity to gather first-hand information about the Sea Giraffe and Saab’s support for the radar system from those with real fleet experience.
While in San Diego, User Group attendees will have the opportunity to see U.S. Navy fleet units and training facilities.
The Users Group workshop will take place at Naval Station San Diego during the same week as the Surface Navy Association’s Open Architecture Forum and SNA’s West Coast Symposium (www.navysna.org), so attendees can attend all three events, as well as the SNA golf tournament.
Representatives of navies that use the system can find out more about the Users Group meeting by contacting Ted Ackerstierna (ted.ackerstierna@saabgroup.com) in Sweden or Capt. Jon Kaufmann, U.S. Navy (Ret.),(jon.kaufmann@saabgroup.com) in the United States.
For further information, contact:
Ted W. Ackerstierna
Head Marketing & Sales Naval Domain
Business Area Electronic Defence Systems
Direct + 46 31 794 9425
Mobile +46 73 4379425
US Mobile +1 703 509 1327
Fax: +46 31 794 9002
ted.ackerstierna@saabgroup.com
Saab
Solhusgatan, Göteborg
SE-412 89 Göteborg
www.saabgroup.com