52

Fighter & Attack

Dassault Rafale radar
(Courtesy of Thales France.)

52.1 AN/APG-76
The AN/APG-76 (Fig. 52-1) is a multimode Ku-band pulseDoppler radar originally developed by Westinghouse Norden
Systems for Israels F-4 Phantom 2000 fighters for air-to-air
and air-to-ground precision targeting and weapon delivery.
Extended capability variants have been evaluated in simulated
combat in wing tanks on the US Navy S-3 and US Air Force F-16.
Capabilities. The radar is capable of simultaneous SAR mapping and ground moving target detection and tracking.
Employing a three-segment mechanically steered planar array
antenna and four low-noise receiver and signal processing
channels, it features:
Long-range multi-resolution SAR mapping
All-speed ground moving target detection over the full
width of the forward sector
Figure 52-1. The AN/APG-76 radar system in the nose of an F-16.

Automatic tracking of ground moving and did-move

targets
Automatic detection and location of rotating antennas
The antenna has seven receive ports: sum, azimuth difference,
elevation difference, guard, and three interferometer ports. In
air-to-air modes, the sum, azimuth difference, elevation difference, and guard outputs are processed in parallel through the
four receive channels. In air-to-ground modes, the sum signal
is processed through one channel, and the three interferometer
signals through the remaining three channels.
GMTI and GMTT. The radar system employs interferometric
notching and tracking techniques to detect and precisely track
ground moving targets having radial velocities from 2 to 30 m/s
anywhere within the radars 60 azimuth field of view.
Ground clutter is suppressed by subtracting the echo returns
received by one interferometer antenna segment from the
weighted returns received by another. This is done in the
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outputs of all of the Doppler filters passing frequencies within

the mainlobe of the two-way antenna pattern.
Adaptive CFAR detection thresholds are independently determined for clutter and clutter-free regions. Those targets satisfying an M-out-of-N detection criterion are displayed as moving
target symbols superimposed at the correct range and azimuth
positions over the simultaneously produced SAR map.
As initially implemented, the radar employed five parallel
operating vector pipeline processors and two scalar data processing elements. The radar also provides a wide selection of
ground-map resolutions ranging from real beam, to Doppler
beam sharpening and 3 m resolution SAR imaging. 1 m and
30 cm resolution SAR modes have also been developed and
tested together with a wide-area surveillance mode that combines high-resolution SAR maps in a mosaic to facilitate continuous monitoring and tracking of moving targets.

52.2 AN/APG-77
The AN/APG-77 (Fig. 52-2) is the F-22 fighter aircraft radar
and employs an airborne electronically scanned phased array
(AESA) antenna. The radiating modules are solid state enabling
much greater flexibility as well as improving reliability. There
are approximately 2300 modules and the system is said to be
able to track a 1 m2 target out to a range of 240 km.
The AN/APG-77 AESA radar is designed for air-superiority and
strike operations. The AN/APG-77 changes frequencies more
than 1,000 times per second to reduce the chance of being
intercepted.

Figure 52-2. The active ESA employed by the APG-77 to meet low
RCS requirements provides extreme beam agility and supports
numerous growth features.

The AN/APG-77 is a multimode pulse-Doppler radar meeting

the air dominance and precision ground attack requirements
of the F-22 stealth dual-role fighter. The F-22 may be armed
with six AMRAAM missiles or two AMRAAMs plus two 1,000pound GBU-33 glide bombs, two sidewinder IR missiles, and
one 20-mm multi-barrel cannon. All of these armaments are
carried internally to maintain a low RCS. Four external stations
are also available to carry additional weapons or fuel tanks.
The AN/APG-77 radar has a Non-Cooperative Target Recognition (NCTR) mode. Forming fine beams and generating a
high-resolution image of a target using ISAR accomplish this.
The pilot can compare the target with an actual picture radar
image stored in a database. The radar also incorporates extensive LPI features. Signal and data processing requirements are
met using a common integrated processor (CIP).
Two CIPs perform the signal and data processing for all of the
F-22s sensors and mission avionics, with processor elements of
just seven different types. One serves the radar, electro-optical,
and electronic warfare subsystems; the other, the remaining
avionics. Both have identical back planes and slots for 66 modules. Initially only 19 slots were filled in CIP 1 and 22 in CIP 2,
leaving room for 200% growth in avionics capability.

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52.3 CAPTOR-M
The Captor-M radar is the primary sensor for the multirole
combat aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon. The radar detects,
identifies, prioritizes and engages targets beyond the effective
range of the enemy weapon systems, at the same time remaining resistant to severe electronic jamming.
The EuroRADAR consortium manufactures the Captor-M radar.
SELEX Galileo is the lead contractor for this consortium, partnered with Cassidian (Germany) and Indra (Spain).
The Captor-M radar (Fig. 52-3) is an electronically scanned
X-band radar system and is integrated with the Typhoon
weapon system. It provides:
Long range detection and tracking
RAID assessment and target identification
Flexible, powerful and effective ECCM
Designed for Beyond Visual Range (BVR) weapons
Simultaneous multiple target engagement
Decreased pilot workload through intelligent automation
Close integration with other avionics sensors
The radar has multiple modes of operation:
Simultaneous/interleaved A/A and A/G radar modes
Air-to-Air search and track/search while track
Air-to-Ground real beam ground map as well as high-resolution modes for surveillance and reconnaissance
Ground moving target indication search and track
Sea surface search
Pilot workload reduction by efficient radar resource
management
For long (beyond visual) range combat Captor automatically
selects an appropriate mode depending on the current situation. Long-range look-up detection will typically find the
system selecting a Low Pulse Repetition Frequency (LPRF).
However, for lookdown situations a high pulse repetition
(HPRF) will generally be used. For situations where both
look-up and lookdown need to be covered simultaneously
or where range and velocity data is required, a medium rate
would be used. In addition Captor can automatically initiate Track While Scan (TWS) for a list of targets. The system
employs Data Adaptive Scanning (DAS) to improve tracking
of its selected targets while minimizing unnecessary movement of the antenna. For close-in combat situations Captor
will automatically adjust its mode for a high precision single
target track.

Figure 52-3. The CAPTOR-M radar mounted in the nose of the

Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft.

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52.4 AN/APG-81
The AN/APG-81 (Fig. 52-4) is a highly advanced radar system
developed for the F-35 aircraft, and is the successor radar to
the F-22s AN/APG-77. The features of the AN/APG-81 include
the same air-to-air modes of the AN/APG-77 plus advanced airto-ground modes for high resolution mapping, multiple ground
moving target detection and track, combat identification, electronic warfare and ultra high bandwidth communications. The
antenna is an AESA operating at X-band and the array face is
composed of 1200 solid-state modules allowing coverage of up
to 70 in both elevation and azimuth.

Figure 52-4. The AN APG-81 AESA radar in the nose of the F-35.

The use of solid-state technology and the elimination of

mechanical moving are part of a strategy to improve reliability. The radar system features replaceable assemblies so that
repairs or upgrades to hardware and software modules are easier. In this way the life-cycle costs of this AESA are expected
to be significantly lower than those of its predecessors. The
active arrays on the F-35 are expected to have almost twice the
expected life of the airframe.

52.5 AH-64D Apache Helicopter (Longbow Radar)

Longbow is a fast-reaction, low-exposure, high-resolution,
millimeter-wave fire-control radar designed for the AH-D
Apache attack helicopter (Fig. 52-5). Mounted atop the main
rotor mast to take advantage of terrain masking, the radar can
pop up and, in seconds scan a 90 sector; then, drop down
out of sight.

Figure 52-5. Lurking behind cover with only the radome of its
millimeter wave radar showing, Longbow can quickly detect,
classify, and prioritize more than 100 moving or stationary targets.

During that brief interval, it can detect, classify, and prioritize

more than 100 moving and stationary ground targets, fixed
wing aircraft, and both moving and hovering helicopters
discriminating between closely spaced targets of the same type
with an extremely low false-alarm rate.
It then displays the 10 highest priority targets to the aircrew
(Fig. 52-6) and will automatically cue either an RF or a semiactive laser guided fire-and-forget Hellfire missile to the first

Figure 52-6. Flat, fully interchangeable color displays are provided in

both cockpit positions (courtesy of U.S. Army).

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target (Fig. 52-7). Immediately after its launch, the system cues
the next missile to the next priority target, and so on.
The radar also provides obstacle warning to alert the pilot
to navigation hazards, including man-made structures, towers, etc.
Radar data is displayed on the pilots night-vision helmetmounted display and on two color-coded flat general-purpose
displays in each cockpit.
A derivative of the Longbow radar will be forthcoming for the
RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. Using the same millimeter-wave
radar and the same Hellfire missiles as Apache, it will include a
number of advanced features, such as a smaller antenna.

Figure 52-7. The AH-64D carries up to 16 RF or semi-active laserguided Hellfire missiles and 76 70-mm folding fin aerial rockets
or a combination of both, and up to 1,200 rounds of 30-mm
ammunition.

Eurofighter TYPHOON (2003)

The Typhoon is a single-seat, twin-engined, canard-delta wing,
multirole fighter. It is designed and manufactured by a consortium
of BAE Systems, Airbus Group and Alenia Aermacchi. Its first flight
was in 1994, and it is currently in service with the Royal Air Force,
the Austrian Air Force, the Italian Air Force, the German Air Force,
and the Royal Saudi Air Force.