The NIIP Pero PESA antenna - the first step to moving beyond the 1980s radar designs.

RUSSIAS RADAR REVOLUTION

Reuben Johnson

For the first time in more than 20 years, Russian fighter radar makers are poised to close the gap that has existed between them and US/European radar firms. This development has been long in coming, the result of years of work in mastering the art of new-age radar design combined with generations of work on previous existing models. This legacy of Cold War-era achievements and new age electronics has permitted Russian designers to come up with new designs that will finally push their latest fighter models to achieve their full capability.
who turns faster at 9Gs? Where they did not match up so well was in the radar department, both aircraft being limited by models that - while they were adequate for their day - began to be outmoded as the calendar clicked into the 1990s. MIG-29 RADARS The MiG-29s radar has gone through an interesting developmental path, starting off with the PhazotronNIIR N019 model. This radar originally had a number of problems, not least of which was limited range, which limited its usefulness in beyond-visual-range (BVR) engagements. Tracking range against a fighter target was 70 km in the frontal hemisphere and only 35 km in the rear. Bomber-size targets could be picked up at around double this range, but the radar - especially in some of its earlier export models was notorious for giving false targets.

n the 1980s Russian aircraft makers demonstrated a marked improvement in their ability to design and build fighter aircraft. Two new twin-engine fighters, the Mikoyan MiG-29 and the Sukhoi Su-27 were a quantum leap for Russian aviation at the time. Both aircraft were superb aerodynamic performers and could hold their own against their US and European contemporaries if the question was
16 October 2007

This was due to the radars designers having turned up the radars sensitivity in order to try and extend its range. The N019 could track up to 10 targets in track-while-scan (TWS), but it could only fire on one target at a time. The processor unit was not able to pick out many targets from ground clutter, the look-down range was even shorter than the air-to-air envelope. This was a frustration to a number of pilots, because the BVR range-capable Vympel R-27 semi-active radarhoming missile could not really be reliably employed. Additional problems were caused to both the N019 and the Su-27s N001 by the information turned over to US intelligence by a Phazotron design engineer named Adolf Tolkachev. This data gave US electronic warfare designers all they needed to develop

effective jammers that could neutralise the radar on its operating frequencies. By the early 1990s Phazotron had developed a follow-on design, the N010 Zhuk model, which had been designed for the MiG-29M-9.15 aircraft and the MiG-29K-9.31 carriercapable fighter. Both programs were cancelled, however, leaving Phazotron to develop a series of derivatives of the Zhuk. These follow-on models included a model that incorporated a passive electronically scanning array (PESA) antenna. Phazotron also invested considerable time in improving the back end of the radar, to the point where they are today offering an upto-date version of the radar called Zhuk-M. This radar is the centerpiece of the avionics suite in the MiG29SMT-9.17 aeroplane.

What Phazotron have done now is to integrate a new active electronically scanning array (AESA) radar onto the latest Zhuk architecture - a design they refer to as Zhuk-MAE/FGA-29. However, because the back end of the radar is still the original Zhuk-M design it takes up too much space to allow the AESA to be placed far enough to the rear of the radome so that it be sized for maximum diameter. What Phazotron are working on now is to reduce the size of the components behind the array so that the array can be positioned further aft. This will in turn allow Phazotron to increase the size of the AESA from 575mm to 688mm. Previous reports had put the size of the array after this modernisation of the back end at 700mm, but it will still be slightly less than this. This radar, which will be the

The N011M that was developed for the IAFs Su-30MKI.

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production version, will be designated Zhuk-MAE/FGA-35. This design - more than 25 years after the original N019 design - is worlds away in performance. It can track 30 or more targets in TWS and fire on up to eight of the simultaneously. It will be the radar set for MiGs newgeneration MiG-29 variant, now called the MiG-35. If this aircraft is procured by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for their Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) tender this will become one of the most produced-AESA radars in the world. THE FLANKER STORY The Su-27 has gone through a similar evolution, but its N001 radar has been the intellectual property of the NIIP design bureau, which was always known for building the larger and more expensive radar sets. The N001 was very similar in design to the MiG-29s N019, only with a larger array, but it suffered from the

same shortcomings as the MiGs radar. Over the years, NIIP have come up with several developments that have addressed the problem. One of the first fixes was the decision by NIIP to develop a PESA antenna that could be retrofitted to the basic N001 radar. A few hardware modules had to be replaced, but this radar upgrade essentially had the potential to breathe new life into an old radar set. Unfortunately, there were not many takers for this innovation. The next step was a completely new radar. Called the N011M Bars radar, this was originally designed for the IAFs Su-30MKI and has also been delivered to Malaysia in its Su30MKMs. The Bars is again a PESA, but with some major improvements over the N001 performance. This radar could track 15 targets in TWS and fire on four of them simultaneously. NIIP owe their ability to design effective and powerful PESA radars due to the fact that they designed the

first such radar ever in history, the MiG-31s Zaslon radar. This is what has made the difference in their being able to design several PESA radar sets - as well as their work on an AESA model that would rival that of the their competitors at Phazotron. We learned a great deal about electronically scanning array design from the Zaslon, although it was a very expensive and almost a prohibitively heavy radar at the time. Since then it has become possible to design much smaller radars that have robust tracking and processing capabilities mostly due to the availability of todays advanced electronic components, said a NIIP designer. Watching some of the US and European firms we can see that they are repeating mistakes that we learned to avoid many years ago. Although Russian firms are sometimes looked upon as less technologically sophisticated compared to their foreign counterparts, we definitely have

The MiG-29OVT is the test bed for the MiG-35 program. -

18 October 2007

The Zhuk-MAE/FGA-29 radar mounted in the MiG-35 prototype aircraft.

the edge in experience and design philosophy of PESA and AESAs, he continued. This experience has culminated in what will be NIIPs last PESA model, the Su-35s Irbis radar set. With the ability to move its antenna so that it can be slewed to oblique angels (up to 120 degrees), this is the most advanced PESA to come out of Russia to date. The Irbis-E is an X-Band multifunctional array with a range in some functions of up to 350-400 km. Its detection range is 150 km and target acquisition range is 90 km. It can track up to 30 targets in track-whilescan (TWS) air-to-air and can track up to four ground targets. It can fire on up to eight targets simultaneously. EXPORTS ONLY The sad fact for Russias radar houses is that for all of their talent they have yet to make any large sales to their own domestic customer. Both bureaux have trotted out a series of

increasingly capable and advanced radar designs - models that the Russian Air Force would have done well to retrofit to their aircraft already in service - but the orders have never come. Like most of the rest of Russias defence sector, the radar makers have been dependent upon exports sales and this is what puts them in a bit of a predicament at the moment. Phazotron has a relatively capable AESA in the Zhuk-MAE/FGA-29/35 design series, but without a major order from India the programme is not likely to go much further than the two prototypes that have been produced so far. These radars are - by admission of Phaztotron - expensive to build and it would take a substantially large order to achieve the economies of scale necessary for production. NIIP have an impressive PESA in the Irbis, but this design and their work on an AESA model radar lives or dies based on whether or not the Su-

35 can be sold to some export country. Brazil has been a near-term target, but it might take more than the 12-20 aircraft that the Brazilian Air Force would purchase in order to make this program viable. Tragically, Russias fighters finally have the radars that they have always needed to be able to prove their full and true worth in an air combat environment. An export customer would be greatly surprised between the performance of an Su-35 with the Irbis or the AESA-equipped MiG-35 in comparison with previous generation versions of these aeroplanes. However in the countries where there is the greatest demand for these radars, Russian firms are now competing with western aircraft makers. Generally, the western firms offer much more than Russian firms in terms of offsets and other bonuses - even though the Russian aeroplanes might be cheaper to procure. What will make the difference
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The PESA antenna for the Irbis-E radar is the new radar set for the Sukhoi Su-35.

in whether or not Phazotron and NIIP can continue to compete with Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Thales and others is if they can end up in the

winners circle on one of these major fighter sales. Without a big order these programmes are not likely to move much beyond the prototype

The Zhuk-MAE/FGA-29 will undergo another design deviation in order to decrease the size of the processor and other components aft of the array.

designs that we have seen thus far. This also impacts on Russias own air force, which is becoming increasingly obsolescent. Since the end of the Cold War the Russian armed forces have been waiting for export customers to pay the costs of R&D and initial production of a new system. Once these NRE costs are taken care of the Russian air force can order these new shiny toys for their own use. Meaning of course that a lot - the future of radar technology and the ability for Russia to modernise its own air force - rides on how well their firms can perform in the international marketplace. It makes the increasingly complicated and unclear situation with the IAFs M-MRCA tender almost a do-or-die procurement. Phazotron are likely to try as hard as - or even harder than - MiG to make sure they are the winner.

20 October 2007