U.S. radar design and production firms Raytheon (RTX) and Northrop Grumman (NG) are both introducing new, next-generation fighter aircraft radars based on active electronic scanning array (AESA) technology. The new designs provide cutting-edge combat performance to both fifth-generation fighters now in production—as well as previous generation platforms.
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman manufacture their respective PhantomStrike and APG-85 systems with transmit/receive modules (TRMs) based on GaN (gallium nitride) semiconductor materials, in contrast with both companies’ previous AESA fighter radars, built with TRMs based on gallium arsenide (GaAs).
GaN technology provides superior performance, especially for providing an array that can transmit electronic counter counter-countermeasures (ECCM) and the ability to detect smaller targets. The functionality represents a critical asset in an age of geometric expansion in the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles. GaN-based radar designs can also operate at a higher bandwidth and with improved thermal efficiency.
PhantomStrike is the result of several generations of RTX development. Reaching back almost a decade, Raytheon originally presented the GaAs-technology Raytheon Next-Generation Radar (RNGR) and the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR). Those systems were proposed options for new-build F-16s and as retrofits for older F-16s and the initial non-AESA equipped initial production batch Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
RTX also produces the APG-79 radar for the F/A-18 E/Fs in service with the U.S. Navy and export customers. Previously, the company had taken responsibility for one of the first operational AESAs, the APG-63 (V)2 for U.S. Air Force F-15s and the (V)3 variant sold to Singapore and other F-15 export customers. The latest variant of the F/A-18E/F radar, the APG-79(V)4, also incorporates GaN TRMs into its manufacture.
At the same time, Northrup Grumman continues the development of the APG-85, which would ultimately replace the radar currently in use with the F-35, the APG-81. NG would introduce the new radar, also GaN-based, into production Lots 17 onward and it will account for one of the central new equipment upgrades on all future Block 4 F-35s.
Block 4 will see a major replacement of the F-35’s primary onboard systems in the fighter’s internal hardware, including a new set of mission systems and avionics. A new engine based on the new General Electric XA100 propulsion development also has been proposed for the aircraft. It would in theory displace the current Pratt & Whitney F135, which has experienced problems throughout the production life of the aircraft.
APG-85 incorporates active electronic scanning that can lock onto air, land, and sea targets. It can simultaneously detect and track multiple targets in different domains.
The PhantomStrike design is attractive for a wide range of applications because it can fit in the radomes of smaller aircraft and it weighs less than 100 pounds—less than half the weight of most modern AESA designs. RTX explained its capabilities include digital beam forming and steering, multimode functionality, and interleaved ground and air targeting.
Company representatives have added that PhantomStrike costs half the price of a typical AESA-class radar. “This is a very good price compared to what is available on the market today…especially since we managed to eliminate many moving parts, which lowers the cost of its operation,” said a spokesperson. “Fewer parts mean fewer breakdowns and makes it unnecessary to have a large team ready to carry out radar repairs on a regular basis.”
Those attributes make the radar an ideal fit for the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) FA-50 light fighter, an aircraft developed jointly between KAI and Lockheed Martin, which has produced a two-seat multi-role aircraft very similar to the F-16 but slightly smaller. Poland has agreed to purchase 48 aircraft, which will carry the designation FA-50PL, in a deal worth some $3 billion.
The Polish Air Force recently chose the aircraft to supplement its fleet of F-16C/Ds already in inventory and the 32 units of the F-35 now on order. The F-35 deliveries will begin only in 2025, but the first of the FA-50s will arrive this year. In early May, officials announced that Poland selected PhantomStrike for the FA-50PL after evaluating several other options.
“[The radar] will enable the efficient implementation of the required target functions for the implementation of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions,” said Krzysztof Płatek, a spokesman for the Polish Armament Agency, the country’s main procurement agency.
The U.S. State Department also approved the sale of 34 of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control division’s AN/AAQ-33 Sniper ATP observation and targeting pods to Poland. The targeting pods will facilitate the FA-50 functioning mainly as a close-air-support aircraft and a training platform.
Former Polish defense officials who now advise the air force point out the FA-50PL will be the country’s first AESA-equipped fighter. “This also makes a strong case for upgrading our F-16 fleet with the same radar in order to have overlapping capability across the fighter force,” said one former procurement official.