Elbit Systems (Chalet 200 and Static A8) has chosen the 2015 Paris Air Show to launch its “Air Keeper” airborne Sigint/EW (signals intelligence and electronic warfare) offering which enables civil aircraft to assist in dealing more efficiently with targets of opportunity when encountered in a hostile environment.
Already operational, Air Keeper has been designed for quick and easy integration on cargo, transport and passenger aircraft. In addition to its ability to be installed without interfering with the aircraft’s platform functionality and mission, the main advantage of Air Keeper is that it combines soft-kill EW with traditional Sigint capabilities in one system.
Air Keeper comprises seven subsystems, mostly from Elbit’s Elisra subsidiary, that can be tailored to meet individual customer requirements. An electronic support measures/intelligence subsystem provides full-spectrum coverage, from 0.5 to 40 GHz, enabling the interception of all radar signals across air, sea and land domains.
In addition, Air Keeper has electronic countermeasures functions to jam hostile emissions. Similar capabilities, for both direction-finding/interception and jamming are provided for communications in the spectrum from high frequency (HF) to 6 GHz.
A fifth subsystem for command and control provides the means by which operators can manage the system and exploit the intelligence gathered by the Comint/direction-finding and ESM/Elint subsystems. A self-protection subsystem can interface Air Keeper with the platform’s defensive systems, while a satellite communications subsystem is provided for a two-way link with ground stations for both communication and the relay of intelligence data.
