Military Procurement International Vol. 19, No. 9, May 1, 2009
Copyright DAPSS S.A., 200
9, Switzerland. It is unlawful to reproduce any of this publication without written permission from the publisher.
FRANCE
Airborne
tests of AESA radar for Rafale
On April 22, Thales
announced that, in conjunction with the French DGA national armaments
directorate, it had completed the latest series of in-flight tests of its RBE2
Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar on a Dassault Aviation Rafale combat aircraft.
The tests were to provide
“functional validation of the radar’s operating modes,” according to
Thales. “This milestone marks the latest step towards qualifying the RBE2 AESA
radar this year, in readiness for delivery of the fist two units to Dassault
Aviation during the first quarter of 2010.” The RBE2 radar is scheduled to be
fitted on the Rafale in 2011 for delivery to the French
Air Force in early 2012.
The AESA radar is designed to boost range by more than 50% compared with the aircraft’s current radar, offering compatibility with the new MBDA Meteor rocket-ramjet powered Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM). It is also intended to improve reliability; deliver high-resolution synthetic-aperture imagery in the air-to-ground mode; and be more resistant to jamming.