A Sea King helicopter fitted with a Searchwater LAST radar
Searchwater was a maritime surveillance radar developed by Thorn EMI under project P1149. This type of radar has been in service with the Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod aboard the MR2 variant since the 1970s.[1]
The retirement of the Royal Navy's fleet carriers in 1978 meant that the airborne early warning (AEW) capable Fairey Gannet was also withdrawn from service. During the Falklands War, a number of warships were lost due to the lack of an indigenous AEW presence. Consequently, a greatly accelerated project was started to equip Westland Sea King helicopters with a slightly modified version of the system known as Searchwater LAST (Low Altitude Surveillance Task). The radome was mounted in a distinctive inverted cupola on a swivel arm attached to the right side of the fuselage just aft of the main door.[2] This arm allowed the helicopter to lower the radar below the fuselage in flight and to raise it for landing. Searchwater was retired from service when the last of the Royal Navy's airborne early warning Sea King helicopters were taken out of service in 2018.[3] The Searchwater system was subsequently replaced in the Royal Navy by the new Crowsnest system.[4]
Searchwater radar was developed by the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment and EMI (later Thorn Sensors Group). Racal Radar Defence Systems acquired Searchwater in 1995. Thorn and Racal merged to form Racal-Thorn Defence.[1]
Searchwater was a maritime surveillance radar developed by Thorn EMI under project P1149. This type of radar has been in service with the Royal Air Force...
examples were a pair of Sea King HAS2s that had the Thorn-EMI ARI 5980/3 Searchwater LAST radar attached to the fuselage on a swivel arm and protected by...
King ASaC7 Upgraded AEW2/5 for the Royal Navy with Searchwater 2000AEW replacing original Searchwater radar. Sea King Mk.41 Search and rescue version of...
display up to 20 times more technical and strategic data than the MR2. The Searchwater 2000 MR radar was stated to have been capable over land as well as water;...
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Thales Crowsnest radar is a slightly upgraded version of the existing Searchwater 2000 radar. As part of the process of the system reaching initial operating...
development aircraft. According to reports, it has about 1400 T/R modules. Searchwater 2000, the main maritime surveillance radar for the now defunct Nimrod...
fitted with radomes containing a variant of the Nimrod ASW aircraft's Searchwater radar. These first travelled south after the war on the brand new HMS Illustrious...
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Provision of an organic airborne early warning capability, based on the Searchwater radar, for each of the operational aircraft carriers; Replacement of...
fuel and cooling systems installed in the weapons bay, removed. The Searchwater radar, at the time fitted to the Nimrod MR.2, would have been installed...
installed with the Crowsnest system, consisting of a new version of the Searchwater radar combined with Cerberus mission system in a kit installation. This...
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