SOSTAR cancellation a ‘shame’ for Europe
After completion of a ?90 million ($139 million) development program funded by five countries for nearly six years, Europe has developed significant new te

After completion of a ?90 million ($139 million) development program funded by five countries for nearly six years, Europe has developed significant new technology for air-to-ground surveillance. But the work may not be fully exploited, since the intended follow-on program has been cancelled.

France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain approved the SOSTAR (stand-off surveillance and target acquisition radar) project in late 2001. The plan was to boost European capability so that an equal contribution could subsequently be made to the transatlantic cooperative AGS radar (TCAR). The TCAR was to incorporate the best of U.S. and European technology and be installed in a new fleet of air-to-ground surveillance aircraft for NATO–manned Airbus A321 airliners and Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles.