Business & Money | Wednesday 25 February, 2015 12:36 am |

Airbus Defence and Space Direct Aerial Targets have played a key role in the qualification of the full performance of a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system being developed as part of the German Air and Missile Defence System.

During the trials conducted for the German Government end of January at the Overberg Test Range in South-Africa, the Direct Aerial Targets performed flawlessly in a series of engagements with the SAM system.

In the first test the target was engaged at a distance of more than 30 km at high altitude. The aerial target of Do-DT25 type carried out evasive manoeuvres including changes of direction and altitude thus perfectly simulating an intruding fighter aircraft.

The second test involved a shot at closer range against a Do-DT25 target at lower altitude. The engagement of the threat was executed in less than 10 seconds.

During the engagement in the third and final test a small, fast and agile aerial target – the Do-DT-45 - performed extreme dive and pull-up manoeuvres simulating a low level flying cruise missile. The aerial target was engaged at a medium range and altitude.

All air-defence-engagements, turned out by surface-to-air missiles, resulted successfully in direct hits of the respective aerial targets.

The Target Systems and Services unit of Airbus Defence and Space supplies full operational services for live firing, air-defence-crew- as well as aircrew-training and weapon system’s qualification all over the world. At the core of the training settings are advanced Towed Aerial Targets, Direct Aerial Targets and Naval Surface Targets. The sophisticated airborne target portfolio enables Airbus Defence and Space to simulate complex and therefore realistic threat scenarios. With its Direct Targets product family in particular, Airbus Defence and Space offers aerial target systems for advanced training in air defence and the testing of high-end air defence weapon systems.