705702451 - Project NJORD PIN

The UK Government has set its ambition to deliver 40Gw of green energy by 2030 delivered by numerous offshore windfarms that shall be built and commissioned during a rolling programme of works that will continue into and beyond 2035. The fleet of UK Air Defence (AD) Radars are installed strategically around the UK and provide the Recognised Air Picture (RAP) enabling UK Fighter Control to identify non-cooperative targets breaching the UK controlled air space, enabling the Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) in support to Defence Task 1 (DT1).

Each of the future offshore windfarms will have a unique, detrimental impact upon the RAP as they will reduce the volume of air space that the AD radars can survey, reducing the effectiveness of QRA and the ability of the armed forces to operate in support to DT1.

Project NJORD (herein referred to as NJORD) has been established in response to a need for capabilities that will mitigate the negative impact introduced by the windfarms and maintain, the RAP at its full capability as established prior to the introduction of offshore windfarms. The activity and contract management, through life for the capability / capabilities, resides with the Air Defence and Electronic Warfare Systems (ADEWS) Delivery Team (DT). To achieve this, NJORD shall focus on the Primary Surveillance Radar (PSR) coverage which will be degraded upon the installation of offshore windfarms. The capability may be comprised of a singular asset that mitigates individual windfarms or numerous assets that comprise a system of mitigations.

The anticipated potential solutions for the procurement are as follows.

• TAO 1 – Replace the current AD radar fleet.
• TAO 2 - Gap Fill Radar / Supplementary Radar.
• TAO 3 - Adjunct System / Modification to AD radar fleet.
• TAO 4 - Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV)s.
• TAO 5 - Low orbit satellite technology.
• TAO 6 - Optical Trackers.

The Market Interest Day is a briefing from the Authority to Industry, during which the Authority will describe the requirement and incremental delivery approach. The intention is to set up a framework for mitigation solutions that will be procured through a series of competitions including trial demonstrations. We will invite Industry comments which will be documented and shared to those present at the event.

Should your Organisation wish to attend the initial Market Interest Day please contact the following email address to register your interest: DESADEWS-ProgNjord@mod.gov.uk so that we can engage with you regarding this event. Industry attendance will be limited to 2 attendees per company with requirement for confirmation of extant Security Clearance. Responses for attending are requested by October 31.

Whilst this PIN is entirely focused on achieving Project Njord, any subsequent framework that is established, may also be used for future Air Defence Radar.

We look forward to hearing from you.