LOPAR (low-power acquisition radar)

LOPAR stands for low-power acquisition radar. The term is recorded as NATO terminology in the Glossary of NATO Acronyms and Abbreviations (AAP-15), the alliance's published list of acronyms in English and French.

The same glossary gives the French equivalent as radar d'acquisition de faible puissance. It also associates the acronym with the NATO Air Force Systems Group, abbreviated NASG. These three points are what the NATO glossary establishes about LOPAR: the English expansion, the French equivalent and the NASG association.

How the NATO glossary lists LOPAR

AAP-15 is a bilingual reference. Each entry pairs an acronym or abbreviation with its full English form and its French counterpart. For LOPAR, the entry reads low-power acquisition radar in English and radar d'acquisition de faible puissance in French.

Bid teams working on bilingual documents can use these two forms as NATO gives them. Writing the English and French expansions exactly as the glossary does keeps a proposal consistent with the source terminology.

The NASG association

The glossary links LOPAR to NASG, which it identifies as the NATO Air Force Systems Group. That association places the term within NATO's air-related vocabulary. The glossary entry is the basis for that link, and a supplier should treat it as a pointer to where the term sits in NATO usage rather than as a specification of any equipment or requirement.

Where NATO terminology is maintained

Beyond the AAP-15 glossary, NATO publishes NATOTerm, its official terminology database for non-classified military and relevant non-military terminology. The NATO Terminology Office maintains it, and that office is part of the NATO Standardization Office.

NATOTerm is the right place to check how NATO treats a term over time. The AAP-15 glossary is the document that records LOPAR, so cite it when you need to show where the acronym and its French equivalent come from.

Looking for LOPAR in Canadian tender and contract data

CanadaBuys is the federal source for tender opportunities. It also offers downloadable procurement and contracting data, covering tenders, awards, contract history, standing offers and supply arrangements.

A supplier tracking radar-related work can search these sources for LOPAR and for the full phrase low-power acquisition radar. Search both the English and the French forms. The wording in any notice you find is the wording that governs that opportunity.

What LOPAR means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

Treat LOPAR as a NATO term with a fixed English and French expansion. If it appears in a Canadian solicitation, read the statement of requirements and any definitions in the tender documents, because those set the supplier's obligations, not the glossary entry. Use the NATO glossary to keep your terminology accurate and bilingual.

Suppliers new to defence work can also review the Department of National Defence's information for companies on its procurement. Set up saved searches on CanadaBuys so that notices mentioning the term reach your team as they are published.