23 - 26 June, 2025 |
Hilton Syon Park, London, United Kingdom
Military Radar Focus Day | 26 June 2025
8:00 - 9:00
REGISTRATION AND REFRESHMENTS
9:00 - 9:10
CHAIRMANS OPENING REMARKS
Thomas Withington -
Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute,
FSAD 2025 Co-Chairman
EXPLORING CURRENT RADAR CAPABILITIES
9:10 - 9:30
HOW ARE ADVERSARIES USING RADAR TECHNOLOGIES, AND HOW CAN ALLIES PREPARE FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS
Thomas Withington -
Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute,
FSAD 2025 Co-Chairman
· Updates on existing systems operated by Russia’s Aerospace Forces for ground-based air surveillance and ground-control interception radars
· Russian initiatives for radar optimisation and modernisation
· Radar development to respond to the proliferation of drones in Russian and Ukrainian airspace
9:30 - 10:05
HOLISTIC AIR DEFENCE NETWORKS: INTEGRATING HETEROGENEOUS SURVEILLANCE SENSORS, TDL, VOICE, AND DATA ACROSS CROSS-BORDER ENVIRONMENTS AND SECURITY DOMAINS
Thomas Zehetner -
Global Sales Manager,
Frequentis
• Sensor- and user-agnostic surveillance information gateway
• Integration of new surveillance capabilities and characteristics into legacy systems
• System-wide network management with mission- and workflow-aligned information distribution
• Quality assurance and extended security mechanisms, including user-defined hardening, logging, and reporting
• Validation, conversion, modification, filtering, and fusion of surveillance data
10:05 - 10:40
ROADMAP FOR MISSILE DEFENCE SENSORS GIVEN THE COMPLEX REALITIES OF AIR AND MISSILE BATTLE
Patrycja Bazylczyk -
Program Manager & Research Associate, Missile Defense Project,
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
• Importance of space-based sensors for birth-to-death tracking and discrimination
• Adapting sensors for ballistic missile defence
• Challenges of sensor integration to increase range, survivability, and performance
Patrycja Bazylczyk
Program Manager & Research Associate, Missile Defense ProjectCenter for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
10:40 - 11:20
MORNING COFFEE AND NETWORKING BREAK
ENHANCING TRACKING CAPABILITIES WITH PASSIVE SENSORS & MULTISPECTRAL SURVEILLANCE
11:20 - 11:50
POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF PASSIVE SENSORS TO DETECT AND TRACK TARGETS
Professor Daniel W. O'Hagen -
Head of the Passive Radar and Anti-Jamming Techniques Department,
Fraunhofer FHR
• Employment of passive radar to detect and track targets in current conflicts
• Operation of passive radar in complex environments where the effectiveness of radar is obstructed
• Limitations of passive radar, and developments in detecting hypersonic threats
Professor Daniel W. O'Hagen
Head of the Passive Radar and Anti-Jamming Techniques DepartmentFraunhofer FHR
11:50 - 12:20
MODERNISING SWISS AIR AND MISSILE DEFENCE WITH ENHANCED TRACKING CAPABILITIES
Maxime Bagnoud -
Project Manager,
Armasuisse
· Modernisation of Swiss medium-range air defence, incorporating advanced radar technologies to improve detection and tracking of modern threats
· Successfully linking command and control with sophisticated radar components
· Leveraging international collaboration to enhance tracking capabilities, and contributing to a comprehensive air defence network across Europe
12:20 - 13:40
LUNCH AND NETWORKING BREAK
OPTIMISING RADAR PERFORMANCE
13:40 - 14:10
RADAR EVALUATION SQAUD CAPABILTIIES FOR OPTIMISING PERFORMANCE
Darrell McFarland -
Director, Radar Evaluation Flight,
84th Radar Evaluation Squadron, US Air Force
• Evaluation and Optimization of Long-Range Radars
• Ground Survey, Coverage and Obstruction Evaluation
• Exploration of in-house software design and tools
• Utilising Radar networking and database systems
Darrell McFarland
Director, Radar Evaluation Flight84th Radar Evaluation Squadron, US Air Force
14:10 - 14:40
MORE THAN JUST A RADAR: HOW DIGITAL ARRAY RADAR IS CONVERGING WITH OTHER EMS MISSIONS
Nicholas A. O'Donoughue, PhD -
Senior Engineer, Signal Processing Expert,
Rand Corporation
· Transforming radar hardware into a software-defined aperture, enhancing flexibility and adaptability
· Understand how digital radar technology supports various missions, including communications, sensing, and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), within the array's operating frequency band
· Perspectives on combatting enhanced electronic warfare capabilities & cyber attacks
14:40 - 15:20
AFTERNOON TEA AND NETWORKING BREAK
FUTURE ROADMAP OF RADAR TECHNOLOGIES
15:20 - 16:10
PANEL DISCUSSION: FUTURE DIRECTION OF RADAR TECHNOLOGY
Thomas Withington -
Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute,
FSAD 2025 Co-Chairman
Tom Driscoll PhD - Founder & CTO, Echodyne
Nicholas A. O'Donoughue, PhD - Senior Engineer, Signal Processing Expert, Rand Corporation
· How do experts envision the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into radar technologies to enhance operational effectiveness, and improve performance? How can AI be leveraged for processing detection data?
· What are the primary challenges in adapting radar systems to counter emerging threats such as hypersonic missiles and stealth aircraft?
· With the increasing reliance on digital systems, how is industry addressing cybersecurity concerns related to radar technology to protect against potential cyber threats?
How can the military prepare personnel to operate and maintain advanced radar systems, and what training programs are being implemented?
16:10 - 16:40
UPDATES ON MULTIFUNCTIONAL RADAR
Josef Worms -
Diplom mathematics,
Fraunhofer Institut FHR
• Understand how multifunctional radar can be integrated to detect and track low-observable targets and hypersonic missiles
• Reducing the need for separate radar units to enhance overall system efficiency and response time
• Operating in complex and contested environments with electronic counter-countermeasures to maintain performance and reliability under EW conditions
