BALTIMORE, Sept. 8, 2005 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation
(NYSE:NOC) has begun initial flight testing of the advanced
fire-control radar being developed for the Lockheed Martin F-35
Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. The radar is designed to
enable F-35 pilots to effectively engage air and ground targets at
long range, while also providing outstanding situational awareness
for enhanced survivability.
Designated the AN/APG-81, the active electronically scanned array
radar was first flown on Aug. 23 and 25 on Northrop Grumman's
BAC-1-11 testbed aircraft. During the flights, the all-aspect
search, air-track and synthetic-aperture radar mode capabilities of
the radar were successfully evaluated against airborne and
ground-based targets.
"The outstanding performance of the radar on these initial flights
underscores the intense development effort under way on the F-35
mission avionics and marks the culmination of a successful design,
hardware build, software development and systems integration
process," said John C. Johnson, vice president of Combat Avionics
Systems at Northrop Grumman. "We expect to accelerate the
validation of the radar performance during the flight-test program
and progress with the systems-integration effort ahead of
schedule."
In addition to providing the radar, Northrop Grumman's Electronic
Systems sector is providing the AN/AAS-37 electro-optical
distributed aperture system for the F-35. The distributed aperture
system will provide F-35 pilots with a unique protective sphere
around the aircraft for missile warning, navigation support and
night operations.
Grumman AN/APG-81 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar,
based on the AN/APG-77 AESA set developed for the Lockheed Martin
F-22 Raptor. The AESA set consists of an array of
Transmitter-Receiver (T/R) modules linked by high-speed processors.
Different T/R modules in the array can be allocated to different
tasks providing wide range of functions, thus acting as a multimode
radar, active jamming system, passive electronic defense system,
and communications system. The system generates signals over a wide
range of frequencies and pulse patterns in an unpredictable fashion
to ensure Low Probability of Intercept (LPI), successfully
“fooling“ enemy Radar Warning Receivers (RWR).
The AN/APG-81 uses advanced technology compared to the F-22's
AN/APG-77, but airframe constraints mean that it has fewer T/R
modules, thus limiting its range to 165 km. The radar system will
also incorporate the agile beam steering capabilities developed for
the APG-77. Since US media reports indicate Bush administration’s
clearance for possible transfer of sensitive radar technology like
Raytheon AN/APG-79 AESA radar of the Super Hornet to India,
diplomatic bargaining to secure the AN/APG-81 AESA radar may well
bear fruit. Higher echelons of present US administration have
repeatedly expressed their desire to witness the emergence of India
into a robust continental military power.