The devastating economic consequences of the various Covid-19 measures are also likely to have an impact on the defense sector in the coming years (see report), but there is not yet much sign of this. The best example of this is British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who announced a significant increase in the military budget in mid-November. Over the next four years, an additional 18.4 billion euros will flow into the British defense budget, bringing it to 2.2 percent of gross domestic product and the highest level since the end of the Cold War.
In Austria’s neighbourhood, there are also three countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia – that are currently making considerable investments and carrying out major material modernizations, particularly in the case of Hungary, despite the expected economic downturn. After Hungary and the Czech Republic previously decided to procure a new multi-range radar from ELTA, Slovakia has now also decided to take this step. On January 13, the government in Bratislava signed an agreement with the Directorate for International Defense Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Defense (SIBAT) to procure 17 radar systems from ELTA – a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) – for around 150 million euros. In two or three years, Austria will therefore be surrounded by these powerful 3D multifunctional devices from the Mühlviertel to southern Burgenland.
Technology partnership and transfer
SIBAT Director, Brigadier General (Res.) Yair Kulas, naturally expressed his satisfaction in an initial reaction: “This agreement demonstrates the outstanding capabilities of the Israeli defense industry. We thank our Slovakian partners and look forward to the further exchange of information and technologies to further expand our partnership and cooperation.” IAI Vice President and CEO of ELTA, Yoav Turgeman, is also pleased: “We are honored by the Slovakian government’s decision to include IAI’s MMR radar in its air defense solution. The MMR uses state-of-the-art technology to provide a reliable picture of the air situation and a very accurate overview of the situation. We have had this family of systems successfully in operation for ten years and are confident that this is the best radar system that the Slovak Armed Forces can use to counter a wide range of potential threats from the air as well as from the ground.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAJkw3n9PIs&feature=emb_logo On December 5, 2019, the Czech Ministry of Defense awarded the contract for eight ELM-2084 radars, which are to be operational by 2023. In Hungary, the decision was made on December 11 of the previous year, although Budapest is not purchasing the systems directly from IAI; instead, the contractual partner there is the Canadian subsidiary of Rheinmetall. Canada has been operating ELM-2084 since 2015 and Rheinmetall Canada is responsible for assembly, integration and future system development in Hungary. The number of different MMR configurations not disclosed by Hungarian Armed Forces Commander Ferenc Korom and Rheinmetall-Canada CEO Stéphane Öhrli is expected to replace the much larger P-37, PRV-17 and ST-68U (NATO: Tin Shield) radars in Hungary’s national air defense network and will be used as a “counter battery” device in the artillery regiments of the Hungarian defense forces for impact and origin point calculation. 
Proven cutting-edge technology
The ELM-2084-MMR radar is part of the Israeli “Iron Dome” air defense missile system as well as the more far-reaching “Davids Sling” complex and the SPYDER(Surface-to-air PYthonand DERby) system. The rapidly deployable, S-band, modular and scalable radar family with its active electronically scanning phased array antenna (AESA) enables air defence units to monitor, track and intercept airborne targets at altitudes of 100 to 3,000 meters. The devices, which use gallium nitride technology to enhance their performance, can be used as artillery reconnaissance radar with a range of up to 100 kilometers and as air defence radar with a maximum range of 470 kilometers. Two operating modes are possible: an all-round view with a rotating antenna and electronically swiveled elevation angle scanning and sector operation at a side angle of up to 120 degrees with a fixed antenna. The maximum elevation angles are specified as 30 to 50 degrees. According to IAI, the system can detect and track up to 1,000 targets. In use against medium to small surface-to-surface missiles from Hamas and Hezbollah, the IDF claims a successful interception rate of 90 percent per 1,000 attacks.
To date, around 130 MMR systems have been sold in connection with exports of “Iron Dome” and SPYDER as well as for surveillance tasks. Apart from Israel itself, where it is installed on Tatra 6x6s, the 3D tracking system is already in operation in the USA (US Army’s “Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense System” together with Lockheed-Martin), Canada (10 systems), India (18), Peru (6 on trucks), the Philippines (3), Singapore (2) and Vietnam (6) – here, by the way, based on RMMV HX trucks from Vienna Liesing.
