UK MoD praises performance of ASTOR in Afghanistan

Giles Ebbutt

Friday, 23 July, 2010

In a year of operation by the UK Royal Air Force (RAF), the Raytheon Sentinel R.1 Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) system has delivered valuable support to British and coalition forces deployed in Afghanistan, according to a briefing by UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) representatives at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Declared in service in 2008, two operational reconnaissance deployments took place in late 2008 and early 2009. Following these, ASTOR was deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan in June 2009 and the capability has remained in theatre ever since. Two aircraft are deployed at any one time, based "elsewhere in theatre", in conjunction with a containerised Operational Level Ground Station (OLGS) in Afghanistan. The deployed ground segment is 12 personnel strong.

Each ASTOR sortie remains on station for about six to seven hours, operating above 40,000 ft. The majority of tasking has been in support of pattern-of-life studies, which help analysts "understand the normal to identify the abnormal", according to Major Jeremy Crossley from the MoD's Sentinel Project Team. This can help identify the locations of improvised explosive devices through local route avoidance, for example.

Analysis can be conducted both in the aircraft and at the ground station; the analysed product, usually in the form of an annotated image, is passed to supported ground commanders as quickly as possible.

An RAF Sentinel R.1 overflying Farnborough. The aircraft's ASTOR system has proved itself in Afghanistan. (IHS Jane's/Patrick Allen: 1420037)