Flight tests of the fully capable Eurofirst Pirate infrared search and track/forward looking infrared sensor for the Eurofighter will start in June, with initial qualification by September and full certification in August next year.
Pirate is a passive sensor developed for the Eurofighter as an adjunct to the radar in air-to-air and air-to-ground operations. It is being developed by the Eurofirst consortium led by Italy's Fiar, and which includes UK-based Thales Optronics and Spain's Technobit.
An earlier version of Pirate was flight-tested on Eurofighter prototype DA7, while Thales and FRAviation have modified a Dassault Falcon 20 for flight tests, which started in January. Flight trials against co-operative targets will test air-to-ground modes this year.
Eurofirst has also started to look at potential upgrades for the system, which include multispectral tracking and identification, a track-while-scan capability against surface targets, multiple tracking of air targets with identification, integration with the terrain database for improved navigation and situation awareness.
Source: Flight International
