Thales UK Wins Portuguese Contract for RapidRanger Air Defense Systems

The British company Thales UK has won a Portuguese tender for the supply of modern short-range air defense systems.

This was reported on the official Instagram of the Portuguese army.

As part of the tender, the British anti-aircraft missile system RapidRanger from Thales won in competition with the Polish air defense system Poprad from PIT-Radwar.

The selection of the British air defense system was announced during the Expo Exército 2024 defense exhibition in the Rio Diz city park in Lisbon, where a corresponding agreement was signed with Thales Air Systems SAS Division Air Systems.

According to published information, the Portuguese army will purchase systems based on the Spanish-made VAMTAC armored vehicle with an anti-aircraft module from Thales UK.

The range of missiles to be supplied to Portugal will consist of Starstreak-2 semi-active radar homing missiles and LMM (Martlet) lightweight multifunctional missiles.

Officially, the number of anti-aircraft systems and the value of the contract are unknown, but based on the list of needs published in 2021, the Portuguese army seeks to replace 34 M48A2E1/A3 Chaparral air defense systems.

In addition, the new system will be integrated into the Portuguese army’s overall air defense system, known as SICCA3, along with other systems such as the Stinger air defense system.

The RapidRanger anti-aircraft system weighs less than 500 kg and can be integrated with any platform of appropriate payload capacity. It is equipped with a system of daytime and thermal imaging cameras for low-light and nighttime operation, as well as an automatic target tracking system and a 360˚ omnidirectional surveillance sensor.

The system can be connected to any command and control system (C2). The range of target detection is over 15 km, and the effective range of capture is over 7 km.

The complex has 4 ready-to-launch missiles, which, depending on the task, can be either Starstreak-2 or Martlet, and a combination of missiles is also possible. The missiles are guided exclusively by a laser beam, as they use a semi-active homing head.

Previously, Militarnyi reported that the UK Ministry of Defense is ordering new RapidRanger air defense systems based on the Spanish VAMTAC armored vehicle.