The AN/APG-80 utilises an older brick-based array that is larger, heavier and requires more cooling than the tile-array of the RACR. Referring to the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-80 AESA fitted to the United Arab Emirates F-16 Block 60 aircraft, Goold said "the difference between APG-80 and RACR is generational". Goold said the company did this "seamlessly".įlight-testing of the production-representative hardware (which has about 90 per cent commonality with the AN/APG-79) is set to begin in the first half of 2010, at a location in the United States that will be determined according to aircraft availability.Īccording to Goold, the biggest difference between the RACR and other F-16 AESA options in development - such as the Northrop Grumman Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) - is that the production-representative hardware for the RACR is already available and has been approved for export by the US government. The first series of software integration tests, which were performed at SIL in 2008, focused on ensuring that the RACR (which has been adapted and scaled from AN/APG-79 as fitted to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler) could integrate with the F-16's mission computer and software, as well as demonstrating the air-to-air and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) modes that are possible with the radar. The work is being carried out at the Lockheed Martin Systems Integration Laboratory (SIL) in Fort Worth, Texas. Raytheon is currently undertaking the second integration testing phase of its AN/APG-79 active electronically scanned array (AESA)-derived radar upgrade for the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, a company spokesperson told Jane's on 19 October.ĭave Goold, Director Business Development, Tactical Airborne Systems for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems division, said that work on the second integration testing phase of the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) started on 12 October and is set to run until 26 October.Īccording to Goold, the company is using this testing phase "to develop the radar software modes that we feel the customers are going to be asking for". Raytheon advances F-16 integration testing of new AESA radar Raytheon RACR ve Northrop Grumman SABR radarları ile özellikle F-16 ve F/A-18C kullanıcılarının modernizasyon ihtiyaçlarını hedef almaktalar. Aynı Raytheon gibi, Northrop Grumman da bu radarı geliştirerek F-16 ve muadili taktik savaş uçakları için SABR (Scalable Agile Beam Radar) radarını geliştirmekte. RACR radarı, aynı firmanın, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet savaş uçaklarından kullanılan AN/APG-79 AESA radarı esas alınarak geliştirilmiş.įirma radar, halen hizmetteki en modern taktik savaş uçaklarından olan ve Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri'nin kullandığı F-16 Block 60 Desert Falcon'un kullandığı, Northrop Grumman üretimi AN/APG-80 AESA radarından, nesil bazında daha gelişmiş olduğunu iddia ediyor. ABD'li Raytheon firması, F-16 savaş uçakları için A ESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) prensibi ile çalışan ve RACR (Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar) adı verilen radar sisteminin denemelerine başlamış.
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