The Gripen NG test aircraft is now flying with a SELEX Galileo Raven ES-05 AESA radar installed, following extensive testing with an earlier AESA prototype.
Raven ES-05 is a high performance Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fire control radar designed for the Saab Gripen NG multi role fighter that builds on over 60 years of SELEX Galileo’s fire control radar experience. It has been designed in close collaboration with Saab and is a vital part of the Gripen next generation multi-functional sensor system.
The sensor suite includes active and passive sensors, integrated for central sensor command and sensor fusion. This will significantly increase the multirole capability and sensor performance against future threats and more complex scenarios.
The Raven ES-05 AESA radar features an innovative roll-repositionable AESA antenna to provide a full ±100º field of regard that improves the capability for maximum situational awareness and platform survivability. This allows the pilot to maintain the missile datalink and turn away whilst the scenario continues and the ES-05 acquires other targets and tasks.
The highly reliable AESA transmit-receive module technology incorporated in Raven ES-05 significantly improves system availability leading to reduced lifecycle costs. SELEX Galileo AESA Radars delivering greater performance and higher reliability than comparable mechanically scanned radars and offers all the advantages of multi-function AESA arrays with significant through life cost savings.
The Raven ES-05 Radar has been designed from the outset to meet worldwide fire control radar detection and target tracking needs combined into one efficient modular system. It builds on common modular units for a scaleable system architecture to meet the needs of fire control and intercept radar operational requirements whilst remaining resistant to radar countermeasures.
The AESA antenna is coupled to fully digital multi-channel exciter/receiver and processor Line Replaceable Units (LRUs). These provide a comprehensive mode suite which includes air-to-air, air-to-surface, interleaved and support functions which can be readily adapted or extended in software to meet future needs.
The radar makes use of AESA alert-confirm techniques to confirm targets on first detection. This combined with optimised AESA waveforms results in increased track initiation ranges, whilst simultaneously maintaining situational awareness. The instantaneous scanning ability of the AESA also provides a comprehensive suite of interleaved air and surface modes, thus providing the pilot with all round situational awareness.
At the core of the AESA radar design is the ability to tolerate individual item failure. Component failures in the array result in graceful performance degradation rather than complete system failure, delivering high operational availability when compared with conventional radar systems. Significant cost benefits over the life of the system are realised due to the high reliability, increased availability and reduced maintenance requirements.
