Indian AESA Radar Developments
- Thread starter ni8mare
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Data Pattens feels like they lost the bus for MPA radar contract due to delays in testing by DRDO. They are only providing hardware software is fully done by DRDO.
Height of incompetence from drdo & HAL, even mk1a is also not getting indigenous radar.
What a clown show they all deserve belt treatment.
Status of Data pattern Jammer pod development
Last month, I was thinking of same that both AMPL and DP have reached certain threshold where test aircrafts will be the bottleneck.
We need privately owned test aircrafts like the NG's CRJ700 series modular test aircrafts.
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Northrop Grumman’s Bombardier CRJ Testbed Aircraft fleet of 3 aircraft
AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) seen installed on one of the CRJ testbeds as well as LITENING targeting pod on its ventral hardpoint. In the background you can see one of the old BAC One-Eleven testbeds that the CRJs largely replaced. The image was taken at the company’s facility at Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Northrop Grumman
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One of the company’s CRJ testbeds fitted with the seeker for the anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) missile that is part of the Stand-in Attack Weapon (SiAW) program., Northrop Grumman
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The NG testbed, previously fitted with fighter aircraft nose radomes, was photographed showing what appears to be a forward section of the new AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile.
Captured by aviation photographer Colin Clark at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada the images show the CRJ700 aircraft outfitted with a missile nose where it has previously, and recently, carried an F-35 radome. The aircraft, N806X, is registered to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp, and is one of three CRJ700s in their service.
The nose bears a striking resemblance to previous renderings of the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile (JATM). If confirmed, this would be the first public sighting of the new air-to-air missile, or at least part of it.
Northrop Grumman CRJ700 Testbed Seen Sporting New Missile Nose
The NG testbed, previously fitted with fighter aircraft nose radomes, was photographed showing what appears to be a forward section of the new AIM-260theaviationist.com
This Gonzo-Looking Regional Jet Just Put The F-16's New Radar To The Test
Northrop Grumman's pair of reconfigurable CRJ testbed aircraft have been extremely busy as of late, including flying in major air combat exercises.www.twz.com
A Modernized Flying Testbed Force
Northrop Grumman has long leveraged testbed aircraft for a huge range of research and development initiatives dating back to the company’s founding. In more recent times, platforms ranging from BAC One-Elevens to Sabreliners to Gulfstreams have been heavily modified to act as surrogates for various airborne sensor, electronic warfare, mission, and communications systems. So, the company is clearly a true believer in the benefits of testbed aircraft. This has manifested itself in its push to modernize and consolidate, at least to some degree, its testbed platforms via the acquisition of a small fleet of CRJ-700s, which has now grown to three airframes.
These are nearly identical aircraft, which often get viral attention on social media due to their ability to transform into many different configurations, some of which look quite bizarre. They are based out of Baltimore/Washington International Airport, Maryland, and support roughly 50 programs a year. Flying testbeds fleets are usually made up of a hodgepodge of older airframes that are cheap enough to deeply modify for various uses, just as Northrop Grumman’s fleet had been prior to the arrival of the CRJs. Now having such a modern fleet of test jets that is purpose-engineered for modularity is something somewhat unique to the company.
And when we say modular, we mean modular. The CRJ testbeds’ cabins, which would normally seat roughly 75 passengers, have been reconfigured with control stations, 10 laboratory racks, and a chiller to cool mission systems and other electronics. Additional power-generation capabilities were also added.
Externally, these fascinating airframes can be equipped with entirely different noses to accommodate radars, missile seekers, and large electro-optical systems. They also have a ventral hardpoint capable of carrying a variety of pods, such as the AN/ASQ-236 Dragon’s Eye radar, the LITENING advanced targeting pod, or a large canoe fairing that can be loaded with systems.
Another dorsal attachment point atop the aircraft can house other sensors or communications systems. There are even provisions for side arrays to be installed on either side of the fuselage.
In addition, Northrop Grumman’s CRJ test jets are not only capable of testing the hardware bolted onto them, but also the operational software that underpins that hardware, and in highly dynamic environments. These include large force employment (LFE) exercises where they would be pitted against a physical enemy force and fly alongside a friendly one. In fact, they could masquerade as a fighter jet in a formation of others — the same types that the systems they are testing are slated to end up on. So we are talking about a flying transformer of sorts here that was purposefully engineered for maximum adaptability while leveraging one of the hardest-working and most reliable airliner airframes on the planet. Once again, they are remarkably unique as a testing force — no other prime defense contractor has a fleet quite like it.
Digital Shadow Will Insert Northrop Grumman's CRJ Testbed Aircraft Into The Virtual Realm
The highly adaptable CRJ-700 testbed jets are getting a 'digital twin' to allow them to virtually flight test hardware before ever taking to the sky.
- Raytheons's Boeing 727 based Raytheon Multi-program Testbed (RMT)
Radar-Toting 727 Testbed “Voodoo 1” Appears Over Saipan
Raytheon's one-off 727 testbed jet has ventured very far from home to test its sensor payload as part of a major exercise in the Pacific.
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The War Zone asked the head of the F-15 radar program for Raytheon, Michelle Styczynski, about Voodoo 1 and how it plays into the company’s developmental initiatives. Here is that exchange:
Raytheon’s Boeing 727 testbed also has a detachable ventral gondola-type fairing under the forward fuselage that could accommodate various kinds of sensors, such as radars with synthetic aperture imaging functionality and multi-spectral cameras, and other subsystems. Pictures from plane spotters in Japan, as well as those in the United States that caught the aircraft flying near Salt Lake City and around southern California earlier this year, show the gondola configuration. The Japan images suggest the presence of a low-observable AESA radar or some other type of conformal sensor in a rhombus aperture on the right side of the pod. Larger array, or at least a discolored panel, is on the opposite site.
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The training on Saipan is more involved and includes the use of four 55-foot-long simulated enemy road-mobile ballistic missile launchers, pictures of which are seen below, among other things. Unsurprisingly, the mock ballistic missiles have a general look that is vaguely similar visually to various Chinese types, such as the DF-21 and DF-26, which are of particular concern to U.S. military planners. Detecting and being able to enact a kill chain to destroy these types of missiles would be key during an actual conflict with China or another state with robust ballistic missile capabilities.
The orbit that N289MT was tracked flying around Saipan and Tinian could align with a test of one or more sensor systems, with the mock ballistic missiles potentially being among the targets of interest. The experiments that the aircraft is supporting could involve new or improved communications and data-sharing suites, as well. The U.S. military, as a whole, is only increasingly interested in ways to gather a wide array of information, fuse it together and otherwise process it, and then disseminate it to where it can do the most good, and do so as quickly as possible. Testing of advanced networking capabilities is an ever-more central part of major U.S. military exercises across the board.
Beyond that, conducting whatever these experiments might be in association with Valiant Shield 22 can only offer a valuable opportunity to see how whatever systems are on board Voodoo 1 perform in large force scenarios. This exercise in particular is taking place in a real-world environment that is exactly where a further high-end conflict might occur, too.
More details about Voodoo 1’s flight from Guam, or at least hints as to exactly what the aircraft may have been doing, may well come as Valiant Shield 22 proceeds or in official news about the exercise after it wraps up.
Radar-Toting 727 Testbed "Voodoo 1" Appears Over Saipan
Raytheon's one-off 727 testbed jet has ventured very far from home to test its sensor payload as part of a major exercise in the Pacific.
What we need is some thing like these modular test aircrafts to be made available for Data Pattern or AMPL to test their radars which they are saying can be used Su-30 etc(Data Pattern esp) as they mentioned in Aero India.
AMPL website has open range testing of seeker head for a SAM/AAM
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what we need is something like this for end-game scenario apart from the airborne test beds as shown above
Missile Engagement Simulation Arena (MESA)
The Howland Company led the concept design team that established performance requirements for Missile Engagement Simulation Arena (MESA) at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake in California.
- Astra Microwave received development order for 2 Virupaksha radar AAAUs from DRDO. DRDO is looking into both tiles and plank arrays. They will probably go with tiles.
- UTTAM radar, First phase HAL may go with imported radar because of delay in trials by DRDO. The second phase expects 97 units to be inducted into LCA Mark 1A.
- For the Ship based S-band radar, Astra will complete delivery to DRDO by December.
- First ever developed photonices radar site acceptance test was concluded successfully by DRDO. Maximum components by Astra.
- Radar for the Active Protection System prototype was delivered to DRDO. An improved version is now under works after feedback.
- Astra Rafael Comsys JV has qualified in the initial SDR trials, with final trials expected to happen soon. Contract for around Rs 800 cr expected by March.
Its the first ever proto, now software and bench-marking will happen, then will take a decade to be mature enough technology wise to be accepted for use. Its a very niche tech.
Nope. This is an ab-initio development. It will take many years of testing before this tech is ready for weaponization.
Looks like a GaN version of the Ashwini LLTR to me. Similar mast config +Tatra truck w/distinctive canopy that opens side ways.
Looks like Navy wants steerable AESA radars for their Mig-29s:
Data Patterns might already have something that fits the bill:
Data Patterns might already have something that fits the bill:
I was wondering who will buy Data Patterns radar, now we have the answer. Although it will take 3-4 years to even begin integrating this onto their MIG 29s.