C-Series Combat System from Terma to the Royal Thai Navy’s Landing Platform Dock

Terma has been contracted to supply a combat system and a combat management system for this LPD. The combat system provides excellent surveillance and identification (both air and surface) as well as control of guns for self-protection, and the combat management system ties the system together in a fully integrated solution. The delivery includes the C-Flex, C-Search and C-Fire modules.

These three modules are all part of Terma's C-Series naval combat system portfolio. C-Flex is the combat management system and the natural nucleus of C-Series. It will provide the RTN with a complete command and control capability in terms of situational awareness, multiple sensor management, monitoring features and threat evaluation operated from the multi function consoles on board.

C-Search is a radar and sensor suite. On Thailand's new vessel, the system will consist of a SCANTER 4100 air and surface surveillance radar combined with an IFF system that provides identification to the air tracks of the radar.

C-Fire is the fire control system. Although the main purpose of the vessel is to provide aid and assistance to people who need it, it is essential that the LPD has the capability to defend itself. The Thai LPD will have three guns installed - one 76 mm and two 30 mm -controlled by C-Fire from the C-Flex multi function consoles.

The C-Fire Electro Optical (EO) Director has an inbuilt thermal imager, a TV camera, and an eye-safe laser range finder, and it is easily trained to a track from the situation display or manually by a joystick in the console. The EO Director can then be used for surveillance and identification of certain tracks. Upon hostile actions encountered by any surface or air target, C-Fire can go into engagement mode, and the operator can fire any of the ship's three guns at the target. In case of hostile actions from both a surface and an air target, the system can engage both targets using the SCANTER 4100 radar for tracking the surface target and the EO Director for tracking the air target.

The combination of C-Flex, C-Search, and C-Fire makes up a 100 % integrated solution, which means that all subsystems can be operated from any one of the three consoles on the ship.

Three combat system modules have been put together to form a complete combat system for the Thai LPD. A Terma C-Series combat system can be designed to suit the needs of any client. In this case, the modules have been put together to create a system providing excellent surveillance and self-protection in addition to having a full set of command and control functionalities even for a small solution with three multi function consoles. Additionally, the contracted configuration allows for easy future expansions of the combat system.

In 2008, Singapore Technologies Marine (ST Marine) was contracted to build a Landing Platform Dock (LPD) vessel for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN). The LPD is a multi-role and multi-purpose ship specifically designed to provide the RTN with a strengthened capability in situations of natural disasters such as floods and tsunamis. The vessel will thus provide support to naval missions such as sea transportation, support operations, civil search and rescue missions, and disaster relief programs.