Hawkei NASAMS/CEATAC Radar, Finally Australia's Skies Are Defended

GTP_Paulie-psn · November 8, 2026, 11:41pm

Would you like to see this SPAA version of Hawkei in War Thunder?

Yes
No

0 voters

Introduction

G’day and welcome to my suggestion for the Hawkei NASAMS system with the CEA Technologies CEATAC radar. The Hawkei, made by Thales Australia, is an Australian designed and built Protected Mobility Vehicle. It is named after a highly venomous species of Australian death adder, Acanthophis Hawkei, and the snake is in turn named after Bob Hawke, the 23rd prime minister of Australia.
Design started in 2010 for the Australian Army Project Land 121 Phase 4, the Hawkei was selected as the winner of this program in 2015 with 1100 units ordered. Available in both 2 door and 4 door variants, both on the same chassis with the same dimensions, it can be configured in multiple mission “capability packages” and can be deployed via helicopter. We could see multiple variants of the Hawkei in War Thunder, including versions armed with anti-drone systems, missiles or the specialist NASAMs variant.
Development on NASAMS began with Norway in the 1980s, and had entered service by the early 1990s. It has seen a number of iterations and improvements culminating in the current NASAMS 3 system, which fires AIM-9X Sidewinders and AIM-120 AMRAAM and AMRAAM-ER missiles, although Australia does not currently operate AMRAAM-ER. Australian procurement of NASAMS began in 2017 under Project Land 19 Phase 7B. This was a limited request tender, meaning only one supplier was ever considered for the air defence program as Australia had an urgent requirement to get a modern SHORAD system in to service, and choosing the well proven NASAMS would fast track this.
The Australian NASAMS system integrates two indigenous Australian radars from CEA Technologies. The CEATAC, as found in this suggestion, is an AESA radar mounted on the Hawkei featuring 4 fixed faces for 360 degree coverage. While CEAOPS is a more powerful AESA radar mounted on the HX77 truck. It is equipped with a large single-faced rotating array and four smaller fixed-face arrays. The system provides long-range multi-band surveillance and all-mode IFF capability to support the battery with early warning situational awareness, and retains a secondary fire control capability. The longer-range main array can rotate to provide coverage through 360°, or operate in staring mode to provide constant high-resolution coverage of prioritised airspace quadrants. The four smaller fixed-face arrays combine to provide constant 360° medium-range coverage, including while the carrier vehicle is in motion.
I have chosen the CEATAC for this suggestion as it is going to be more than capable in War Thunder at detecting the required air targets, while being on a smaller platform that is easier to hide, as well as being the same Hawkei vehicle as the launcher platform. Additionally, under Project Land 6504 Australia is looking to acquire a medium range air defence system as well (MRGBAD), and this may well leave the door open for CEAOPS in the game at a higher BR. In reality these systems would operate in tandem for maximum coverage, however they can operate individually and for War Thunder multi-vehicle SPAA purposes we can only select one.
Not represented in this suggestion due to the two vehicle limitation in War Thunder of multi-vehicle SPAA, Australian NASAMS will have a Raytheon AN/AAS-52 Multispectral Targeting System (MTS-A) mounted on a third vehicle to augment the radars. The day/night capable high-resolution optoelectronic infrared sensor includes an integrated laser rangefinder and a real-time tracking capability.
Australia conducted the first live firing of NASAMS during exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2025, and the system reached final operational capability in June 2026.

Specifications

Hawkei:
Length: 5.7m
Width: 2.4m
Height: 2.3m (to vehicle roof)
Weight: 7000kg (base Hawkei weight without NASAMS or CEATAC radar)
Engine: Steyr 3.2L six cylinder turbocharged M16 SCI 200 kW / 268 hp @ 4,000 rpm and torque of 610 Nm/450 ft lb @ 2,000 rpm
Drive: 4x4, 8spd automatic transmission
Top Speed: 130km/hr
Crew: Up to 3 occupants per vehicle
Protection/Armour: Steel alloys, Aramid fibres for internal spall liners, and ceramic ‘beaded’ armour, roughly NATO STANAG 4569 Level 3 standard

NASAMS HML (High Mobility Launcher)
Armament: 6 rail launcher able to interchange AIM-120C AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder

Turret Rotation: 360 degrees

CEATAC Radar
Specifications for this radar are largely classified. All we know is it is an AESA radar with 4 fixed faces for 360 degree coverage.

In Game

As of the time of writing this suggestion, we have recently had a high tier BR decompression, which sees the UK tech tree have a gap between the 12.0 ADATS and the 13.3 Sky Sabre. As Australia does not currently operate the AMRAAM-ER, there will always exist this version to be in game at what would currently be BR 12.7 (as compared with similar NASAMS in game already, albeit with potentially a stronger radar), which just happens to nicely slot in a lineup with the Australian M1A1 SA and F/A-18A Hornet. It gives the UK tech tree a proven and capable SPAA in this BR range, and one that is in service with the Australian Army on an indigenous Australian vehicle as opposed to a prototype.

Additional Photos

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