Competing US and European radar manufacturers are dusting off 13-month-old tenders submitted to the Philippines for six air-surveillance systems, in anticipation of a renewed round of bidding.
The Philippine air force is expected to ask companies to revalidate their proposals and submit revised pricing. The original six tenderers were Alenia, Aydin, GEC-Marconi, Lockheed Martin, Thomson-CSF and Westinghouse (which is now part of Northrop Grumman).
The requirement calls for the supply of a dual-purpose system, providing the military with air-defence coverage of the Philippine archipelago and the civil-aviation authorities automatic billing of overflights by commercial aircraft.
The radars will operated by the air force and linked into the civil air-traffic-control network. A complete turnkey package is required, which, in addition to six three-dimensional radars, includes an operations centre and an interlinking communications system.
The radars will be positioned at Davao, Palawan and Zamboanga, to cover the southern Philippines, and at Laoag, Lubang and eastern Luzon, to cover the north.
Source: Flight International