Case Study  •  4 Apr 2019  •  2 min read

Submarine Radar ESM


The MOD’s Maritime Electronic Warfare Programme (MEWP) team needed expertise to support the Future Submarine Electronic Warfare Support System (F-SEWSS) Project during its Concept Phase.

F-SEWSS is a defence project that will deliver the next generation of Submarine Electronic Support Measures (ESM) capability. It will address critical system obsolescence and introduce a more integrated solution in the Combat System. This will enable F-SEWSS to deliver Situational Awareness through RF Emitter Detection, Threat Warning and Electronic Intelligence Collection. F-SEWSS will be scalable to deliver increased User benefit over time in the evolving Electromagnetic Environment (EME) and allow for future capability insertion.

Optima Systems Consultancy are members of the Enterprise Technical Alliance (ETA), led by TP Group (AIM: TPG). The ETA will provides the newly established Submarine Enduring Naval Design Partnering team (ENDP) with technical expertise to support the MOD’s submarine programmes. Working with TP Group, we provide Systems Engineering expertise into the team with experience of the existing Radar ESM systems and Guide to Engineering Activities and Reviews (GEAR). Our role focusses on two tasks to undertake a GEAR review of the project governance prior to Initial Gate and to derive the platform integration design policies.

The outcome from the GEAR review was that the MEWP team has been able to identify a more closely aligned approach for F-SEWSS and interfacing systems, reducing the technical risk to the project. We created a work breakdown structure and product breakdown structure to enable the client to reach both Initial Gate and Main Gate, and we were able to highlight communication gaps within the team and stakeholders to improve coherence and currency. It is too early to identify outcomes from the platform integration design policies, but early feedback from Users is very positive.

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