https://www.defense-aerospace.com/dae/sponsors/sponsor_rafale/img/fox3_19.pdf
Thales is heavily investing on the promising Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology that will shape the future of the Rafale’s sensors from 2025. Compared to current AESA modules, GaN transmitters/ receivers will prove even more powerful, but with reduced electric and cooling requirements, allowing the RBE2 radar’s already impressive performance to be significantly increased and additional functionalities to be performed via the radar antenna. New multifunction GaN arrays are likely to find their way onto the Rafale, thus multiplying the number of sensor apertures to enlarge the radar’s field of view. GaN antennas will also be adopted for the Spectra jammers. Various new weapons are due to be introduced for the Rafale over the coming years, either as part of spiral upgrades or as part of the future Standard F4, including upgraded Scalp stealth cruise missiles of the Scalp / Storm Shadow family and improved and heavier Hammer (Highly Agile, Modular Munition Extended Range) precision weapons. The Mica family of air-to-air missiles will be upgraded too, to guarantee operational relevance against a whole range of emerging threats. With all these improvements on the horizon, the battle-hardened Rafale will remain a lethal combat tool for the foreseeable future. Thanks to constant investment, to the unconditional support of the French Defence Procurement Agency and to the recent successes on the export market, the Rafale is set to stay in production for years to come, with an additional batch of Rafales likely to be procured by the French MoD around 2020.
From a different place, I don't have the link:
Standard F4 will bring a host of new capabilities. A new tactical datalink, and new GaN technology for the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and jammers are just some of the promised advances.
“Standard F4 will be even more ambitious than F3R,” explained the programme director. “While F3R is mainly restricted to software upgrades, new hardware will be required for the far-reaching F4, even though the airframe will remain unchanged. In practice, F4 will be split into F4.1, for older, in-service aircraft, and F4.2, for new-build airframes. F4.1 will be limited to a number of improvements only in order to avoid complex hardware changes, but F4.1 will accept the new Rafale weapons now being developed. F4.2 will include the whole package of upgrades for the radar, the electronic warfare suite, the Front Sector Optronics and the cockpit to accommodate a helmet-mounted display (HMD).
Thales and the DGA are actively preparing the future radar developments that will be introduced on Standard F4.2, incorporating cutting-edge Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology for the radar and jammer antennas. Thanks to additional radar apertures, detection capabilities will be unmatched and electronic attack capabilities will become a reality. The programme director explained: “Even though we are entirely satisfied with the current RBE2 AESA radar, we are already working on the next generation scheduled to appear on new-build aircraft in 2025. “For the same volume, GaN technology will offer an expanded bandwidth, more radiated power and an even easier ability to switch from one mode to another, or from one functionality to another. With the same antenna, we will be capable of generating combined, interleaved radar, jamming and electronic warfare modes as part of an electronic attack mission.
“GaN emitters will not be restricted to the radar and they will also equip the Spectra suite. For example, for the antennas in the wing apexes, ahead of the canard foreplanes, we could obtain a very quick emission/reception cycle, either saving some volume or augmenting radiated power. On Tranche 5 Rafales, we will have at our disposal twice the amount of transmitted power for the radar and jamming antennas. Thales has already produced and tested in laboratories a series of GaN module prototypes for the new radar and initial testing results look extremely promising. “Following the entry into service of the AESA in 2013, the deliveries of the Meteor in 2018 will push the Rafale into a class of its own – we will be the only ones in the world operating a fighter equipped with an AESA and a ramjet-propelled missile – but we have to keep investing to maintain our leadership. This is the reason why this GaN technological path is so important, especially for the development of additional emitting panels and apertures that will offer extended radar angular coverage. “It is not just an improvement; it is a real technological breakthrough in the field of detection. Jamming modes will not be left untouched and will push the Rafale’s electronic warfare capabilities to unprecedented levels thanks to the introduction of what we call ‘smart jamming’, with a wider band coverage and GaN emitters from 2025. These capabilities will be further expanded thanks to the adoption of MFAs [Multi-Function Arrays].” The Rafale’s Front Sector Optronics (FSO) will be fitted with a new-generation infrared search and track (IRST) sensor optimised for the tracking of air targets, either alone, or in conjunction with the RBE2 radar.
As for Typhoon's radar, let's see what it's like after it's ready. It's taken the LCA route of missed deadlines.
