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JUST AS THIS COLUMN WENT TO PRESS The U.S. fighter radar market will
sequestration kicked in, which means grow substantially with increasing JSF
some major programs will see reduced production in the second half of our
funding. However, delays in F-35 JSF forecast, but for the next few years the
‘production’ over the past several Air Force F-15 and Navy F/A-18E/F
years have probably already helped will be worth equal or larger shares of
more than hindered active electron- the market. The F-22 Raptor radar—the
ically scanned array (AESA) radar de- first major production fighter AESA—
velopment for fighter aircraft. In the will soldier on for decades. But low- F-35
past year, the USAF was finally forced cost AESA antenna upgrades for hun-
to fund major upgrades to existing dreds or even thousands of U.S. and
F-15 and F-16 aircraft, which will re- international F-16s are likely to be craft. In mid-2011, the APG-81 and
main the backbone of the Air Force worth a relatively small sliver of the Northrop’s AN/AAQ-37 electrooptical
for decades, with or without JSF. overall market, as technological matu- distributed aperture system (EODAS)
AESA antennas comprise a matrix rity and competition between North- aboard CATBird participated in North-
of individual active transmit/receive rop Grumman and Raytheon keep to- ern Edge 2011 exercises. In early 2012,
modules—mini-radars—that can be tal values down. the APG-81 and EODAS detected,
configured electronically to scan mul- tracked, and targeted multiple rocket
tiple targets and switch between them JSF delays and legacy upgrades launches during NASA’s ATREX
almost instantaneously. By contrast, Designed from the start for air-to- (anomalous transport rocket experi-
mechanically scanned array antennas ground missions, and given its lesser ment) event at Wallops Island, Vir-
must physically rotate to change field power, the JSF will carry an integrated ginia. Reportedly, the APG-81 contin-
of regard, and can typically track tar- AESA radar and sensor system. These uously tracked missiles most of the
gets with only a single beam. AESAs will have shorter range but greater ca- time, with EODAS repeatedly losing
also are expected to have reduced fail- pabilities than Northrop Grumman/ and reacquiring the simulated ballistic
ure rates and maintenance require- Raytheon’s F-22 AN/APG-77 (though missiles. The APG-81 has still not been
ments compared to complex mechan- the first Increment 3.1 F-22 was de- effectively tested aboard a JSF aircraft.
ical antennas, and to provide ‘graceful ployed in early 2012, adding an air-to- A major reason for JSF delays—es-
degradation’ in the event of damage ground synthetic aperture radar, or pecially in integrating diverse systems
or partial system failure. SAR, mode). aboard the actual aircraft—is the mas-
Northrop Grumman’s MIRFS (mul- sive amount of new software code
tifunction integrated RF system) is the needed for the plane’s truly integrated
integrated avionics system in develop- avionics/sensors/electronics systems.
ment for JSF since 1996, with the In April 2012, Mark Maybury, chief sci-
company’s AN/APG-81 AESA multi- entist of the Air Force, claimed that
function nose array the most impor- 90% of JSF functionality will be cyber-
tant and expensive sensor. It will pro- based, compared with 70% for the
vide near-simultaneous air-to-ground F-22, 60% for the B-2, and 20% for the
and air-to-air radar modes, as well as F-15.
high-gain electronic support measures Even getting sensor data off board
and electronic attack jamming func- raises new complexities. Harris’s low-
tions. The X-band APG-81 will also in- observable MADL (multifunction ad-
teract with other frequency band an- vanced data link) was designed specif-
tennas in apertures around the ically for the JSF, and will limit data
stealthy JSF. transference to other JSFs within a for-
In January 2009, Lockheed Martin mation or designated MADL-equipped
completed the first JSF with a com- command and control elements. This
plete mission system. In June 2009, will create a new form of ‘stovepiping’
The AN/APG-81 AESA will provide near-simultaneous
air-to-ground and air-to-air radar modes for the Northrop Grumman began APG-81 just as international militaries are seek-
Joint Strike Fighter. test flights aboard its CATBird test air- ing fully networked C4ISR.
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