Eurofighter and Euroradar, together with BAE Systems, have delivered and installed the latest generation Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) CAPTOR-E radar on an operating Instrumented Production Aircraft (IPA) for flight testing.
The new capability, installed on IPA5, which flew into the Farnborough International Airshow, was showcased for the first time on a Eurofighter TYPHOON in a special facility at the show today.
This major development milestone underpins the commitment of the stakeholders to delivering a radar that will fully meet the requirements of the Eurofighter Partner Nations and export customers operational needs to beyond 2040.
Eurofighter CEO Alberto Gutierrez said: “This AESA radar capability will further improve the Eurofighter Typhoon's combat effectiveness, allowing Typhoon to continue to maintain its superiority over other available combat aircraft. The radar will fit both Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 aircraft offering customers the freedom to retrofit their existing Eurofighter TYPHOON aircraft when required. In terms of competitive advantage, there is no doubt at all that this is a major step forwards for us and it puts us in a very strong position with regard to existing and future opportunities.”
This AESA radar will offer a variety of benefits over M-Scan, including increased detection and tracking ranges, advanced air-to-surface capability and enhanced electronic protection measures. The new radar retains the key features of the existing Captor radar architecture in order to exploit the maturity of the current much acclaimed system and will use latest generation technology to concurrently execute a full complement of air-to-air and air-to-surface tasks.
The key discriminators of the CAPTOR-E are the very large antenna size and the repositioner which gives an extremely Wide Field of Regard (WFoR). The 200 degree field of regard is significantly larger than typical ‘fixed plate’ AESA radars giving TYPHOON a significant tactical advantage in air combat and greater situational awareness. The larger antenna allows a greater number of TRMs (transmitter receiver modules) thus greater power and reception leading to earlier target detection and greater utility across the EW spectrum.
“Put simply,” said the Eurofighter CEO, “we have now bonded a sensor with an unique combination of power and field of view to the outstanding performance of the TYPHOON platform. Couple all this with full swing role and mutli-role capability and the flexible stores options available on the Eurofighter and it now becomes clear why the Eurofighter TYPHOON has now reached a state of maturity which makes it a highly desirable aerial asset.”
Both Eurofighter and Euroradar have confirmed that the radar has significant growth potential and existing and new customers will be able to participate in tailoring the radar to meet their individual operational requirements.
Euroradar is a multi-national consortium lead by Finmeccanica– Selex ES, alongside Airbus Defence & Space and Indra.