Babcock inks deals to pitch Israeli tech for British radar, air defense programs

LONDON — Babcock International has signed it’s second deal in a fortnight to aimed at offering Israeli technology for British defense programs.

The British company’s latest agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries and its subsidiary Elta Systems is aimed at proposing a radar for the Defence Ministry’s Serpens program.

The program, valued in excess of £400 million (U.S. $486 million) is for the British Army’s next-generation weapon-locating system that needs to be able to detect and find hostile mortars, artillery and rockets.

The agreement will see Elta’s battle-proven Compact Multi-Mission Radar offered by Babcock in the U.K. Babcock said in an Aug. 11 statement that the system will be partly produced and integrated in the U.K.

Britain wants to replace its current capability, the Saab-supplied Mamba, around 2026. The Swedish company was awarded a £46 million deal in 2020 to extend the life of the program until Serpens is ready for deployment.

The agreement with IAI comes about two weeks after Babcock inked a deal with another Israeli company to propose technology to the British Army — on this occasion to offer a battle management, command, control, communications, computers and intelligence capability for a new ground-based air defense capability.

Babcock signed the memorandum of understanding with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to offer the latter’s Micad platform for the Defence Ministry’s Sky Sabre GBAD program, which is based on the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile built by the European consortium MBDA.

Babcock and Rafael have worked together in the delivery and maintenance of the Sky Sabre system since 2017, with the first units introduced to British forces in the Falklands.

“It makes clear sense for both parties to further develop the collaboration so that Micad can be readily offered into the wider land GBAD program,” Simon Holford, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance director at Babcock, said during the Farnborough Airshow last month when the tie-up was announced.