Meads meets the deeds needs.

A successful system demonstration of the Meads ground-based air defence system in May 2004 at Pratica di Mare near Rome signalled the end of the programme's three-year Risk Reduction Effort phase, during which 100 per cent of the required performance levels were achieved. Representatives from the three countries involved in the programme, namely Germany, Italy and the United States, took part in the demonstration. The presentation involved the prototype of a new high-performance fire control radar (running specially developed software) together with the command centre, launcher and the Pac 3 (Patriot Advanced Capability 3) missile. The roll-on/roll-off capability of the newly developed launcher for the C-130 transport aircraft was also demonstrated. The Meads system was designed to protect own and allied forces in out-of-area operations, the civilian population in crisis regions and important sites in the context of homeland and Nato territory defence. The ground-based air defence system covers the entire threat suite from air breathers up to tactical ballistic missiles with a range of 1000 km carrying biological and chemical warheads for which a hit-to-kill performance is mandatory. Equipped with a 360-degree surveillance radar, a fire control radar, a state-of-the-art tactical operations centre, hit-to-kill missiles Pac 3s and its network-centric hardware and software structure the system configuration can be adopted to any specific threat. The system can integrate other sensors due to its plug-and-fight capability. The tri-national approach ensures interoperability in international alliances.