Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
Northrop Grumman has begun flight testing a "fourth generation" active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar as it prepares to bid to develop an active-array radar for the Boeing F/A-18E/F.
The technology demonstration, in the company's BAC One-Eleven avionics flying testbed, is in support of its bid to oust incumbent F/A-18 radar supplier Raytheon. Boeing plans a competition to select an AESA radar for the E/F early this year, with the winner expected to help pay for development work until the US Navy can secure funding.
The One-Eleven is being used to test hardware and software for a fourth-generation AESA radar. Northrop Grumman says its APG-77 active-array for the F-22 is "third generation". Fourth generation technology, says programme manager Joe Hoffmann, "has a higher level of electronic integration, which shrinks the size and weight of a future AESA."
Northrop Grumman has elected to demonstrate the technology as an end-to-end system, he says. The One-Eleven is equipped with the advanced active array, a modified receiver/exciter and a commercial processor. "It has all the electronics of a full-up system, but not the final packaging," Hoffman says.
Initial flights demonstrated the detection of airborne targets in the radar's all-aspect search mode, and included look-up and look-down scenarios. Additional software will be installed for flights in the next few weeks to test advanced modes, including high-resolution mapping and automatic target detection, cueing and recognition.
The company has been working on the fourth-generation AESA for two years. "This has come together faster than any previous system of similar complexity," Hoffman says. "It's not ready for production, but it's ready to be tailored for particular programmes." Development is expected to take another five to six years, "which is definitely in the E/F timescale," he says. A "similar level of technology" is expected to be proposed for the Joint Strike Fighter.
• Northrop Grumman is proposing an advanced APG-68(V)X version of its F-16 radar to Israel and Norway, which are evaluating an improved Block 50 Plus version of the Lockheed Martin fighter. The (V)X retains the mechanically scanned antenna of the basic APG-68, but is capable of being upgraded with the AESA planned to be developed for the APG-68 Agile Beam Radar in the advanced Block 60F-16, says Northrop Grumman.
Source: Flight International
