The JL-10A airborne radar is a highly digitized pulse-Doppler radar with slotted planar array developed for the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) as a replacement for the older Type 232H radar currently employed by the Chinese air force. The radar is built to MIL-STD-1553 standard so it is compatible with western electronics and weaponry. Originally, the radar is capable of simultaneously tracking 10 targets (later to be upgraded to 15) and engaging 2 (later to be upgraded to 6) of the 10 tracked when using semi-active radar homing air-to-air missiles, or 4 of the 10 tracked when using active radar homing air-to-air missiles.
Although the radar has the terrain following and terrain avoidance capabilities, they are rarely used, instead, it is compatible with navigational pods such as the Chinese Blue Sky low altitude navigation pod that enable the aircraft to have these two capabilities. The reason for using navigational pod with terrain following / avoidance radar in conjunction with JL-10A is to have a dedicated terrain following / avoidance mode purely for low level flight, while the fire control modes are continuous and separated from navigational modes such terrain following /avoidance, so that JL-10A would constantly stay at fire control modes instead of switching between terrain following / avoidance modes and other modes of operation. Unlike the much more advanced electronically scanned phased array airborne radars with each scan lasts only milliseconds, the JL-10A is a slotted planar array radar with each scan last from several seconds to a dozen seconds or greater, switching between different operational modes would take too long and thus deemed unacceptable under intense combat situations, so it would be far better to stay in the same operational mode to avoid any interruption under these situations. Reportedly, the terrain following / avoidance technology of JL-10A was developed from those originally obtained from captured terrain following radars from downed A-6 Intruder and General Dynamics F-111 during the Vietnam War.
In 2001, JL-10A achieved a 32:1 DBS (Doppler beam sharpening) capability, but it still lags behind the 48:1 DBS capability of AN/APG-66, and it was not several years later when the JL-10A was finally upgraded with 64:1 DBS capability like that of AN/APG-68. Around the same time, JL-10A was also upgraded with the capability to simultaneously track 15 targets and engage 6 of the 15 tracked. By 2004, SAR capability was incorporated, and inverse SAR (ISAR) capability is reportedly under development.
The radar has already been tested and successfully installed on JH-7A Flying Leopard fighter-bombers and is capable of launching a scope of weapons including the C-802 anti-ship missile and the Russian Kh-31. The JL-10A will be fitted on the Chinese/Pakistani FC-1s upon customer's requests.
Specification:
A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars and continuous-wave radars, which were formerly separate due to the complexity of the electronics.
The Type 81 Surface-to-Air Missile (81式短距離地対空誘導弾) or Tan-SAM (短SAM) is a Japanese developed surface-to-air missile currently in service with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.
The AN/APG-66 radar is a solid state medium range pulse-Doppler planar array radar originally designed by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation for use in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. This radar was employed in all domestic and export versions of the F-16 A/B models throughout the production. Subsequent upgrades have been installed in many varying aircraft types, including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's C-550 Cessna Citation, US Navy P-3 Orion, and Piper PA-42 Cheyenne II's, as well as the Small Aerostat Surveillance System (SASS). Primary air-combat mode is look-down. In that mode, the AN/APG-66 can detect a fighter-size plane at a range of 34.5 Nautical miles. Four modes are available in air-to-air combat. In dogfight mode, the radar scans a 20 degrees x 20 degrees field. In high-g maneuvers, it scans a 40 degrees x10 degrees pattern. The radar system consists of the following line-replaceable units:
The AN/APG-63 and AN/APG-70 are a family of all-weather multimode radar systems designed by Hughes Aircraft for the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. These X band pulse-Doppler radar systems are designed for both air-air and air-ground missions; they are able to look up at high-flying targets and down at low-flying targets without being confused by ground clutter. The systems can detect and track aircraft and small high-speed targets at distances beyond visual range down to close range, and at altitudes down to treetop level. The radar feeds target information into the aircraft's central computer for effective weapons delivery. For close-in dogfights, the radar automatically acquires enemy aircraft and projects this information onto the cockpit head-up display. The name is assigned from the Army Navy Joint Electronics Type Designation System.
The AN/APG-65 and AN/APG-73 are designations for a family of all-weather multimode airborne radar systems designed by Hughes Aircraft for the F/A-18 Hornet, and used on a variety of fighter aircraft types. The APG-79 is an upgraded AESA version.
The AN/AWG-9 and AN/APG-71 radars are all-weather, multi-mode X band pulse-Doppler radar systems used in the F-14 Tomcat, and also tested on TA-3B. It is a long-range air-to-air system capable of guiding several AIM-54 Phoenix or AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles simultaneously, using its track while scan mode. The AWG-9 utilizes an analog computer while the APG-71 is an upgraded variant utilizing a digital computer. Both the AWG-9 and APG-71 were designed and manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company's Radar Systems Group in Los Angeles; contractor support was later assumed by Raytheon. The AWG-9 was originally created for the canceled Navy F-111B program.
AN/APQ-116 is one of the most numerous terrain-following radars (TFRs) produced in the world, and with over 500 units built, it was a member of a family of TFRs consisted of nearly two dozen models, all of which are based on the same general design principle. First developed by Texas Instruments, and later produced by Raytheon when the latter purchased the radar business of the former.
The AN/APG-76 radar is a pulse Doppler Ku band multi-mode radar developed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman.
The Sukhoi Su-30MKK is a modification of the Sukhoi Su-30, incorporating advanced technology from the Sukhoi Su-35 variant. The Su-30MKK was developed by Sukhoi in 1997, as a result of a direct Request for tender between the Russian Federation and China. It is a heavy class, all-weather, long-range strike fighter, and like the Sukhoi Su-30, comparable to the American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle. The Sukhoi Su-30MK2 is a further improvement to Su-30MKK with upgraded avionics and maritime strike capabilities. The MKK and MK2 are currently operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force, Indonesian Air Force, Vietnam People's Air Force, Venezuelan Air Force and the Ugandan Air Force.
Blue Sky is a combined airborne navigation and targeting pod system for Chinese military aircraft. It is designed to provide aircraft with all-weather/night-attack capabilities. It is the Chinese equivalent of the United States Air Force LANTIRN system. Several derivatives have already been developed since its public debut.
The Zhuk are a family of Russian all-weather multimode airborne radars developed by NIIR Phazotron for multi-role combat aircraft such as the MiG-29 and the Su-27. The PESA versions were also known as the Sokol.
The Bars (Leopard) is a family of Russian all-weather multimode airborne radars developed by the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design for multi-role combat aircraft such as the Su-27 and the MiG-29.
The KLJ-7, also referred to as the Type 1478, is an X band airborne fire-control radar (FCR) developed by Nanjing Research Institute of Electronic Technology (NRIET), also known as the China Electronics Technology Company's (CETC's) No. 14 Research Institute. In December 2010, Pakistan Air Force's Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman announced that KLJ-7 radar will be built at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), in Kamra, north of Islamabad.
The AN/APG-67 is a multi-mode all-digital X band coherent pulse doppler radar originally developed by General Electric for the Northrop F-20 Tigershark program of the early 1980s. It offers a variety of air-to-air, air-to-ground, sea-search and mapping modes, and compatibility with most weapons used by the US Air Force in the 1980s.
Irbis-E is a Russian multi-mode, hybrid passive electronically scanned array radar system developed by Tikhomirov NIIP for the Sukhoi Su-35 multi-purpose fighter aircraft. NIIP developed the Irbis-E radar from the N011M Bars radar system used on Sukhoi Su-30MKI aircraft.
The RDM (Radar Doppler Multifunction), also known as the Cyrano 5, is a French multimode pulse-Doppler radar developed by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) for export variants and early French models of the Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft. It is an evolution of the Cyrano IV installed on the Mirage F-1 and in turn was developed into the RDI (Radar Doppler à Impulsions), a specialist air-to-air radar for French Mirage 2000 interceptors, and the multimode RDY (Radar Doppler Multitarget), which could track more targets at a time and added further air-to-ground modes.
The AN/APQ-120 was an aircraft fire control radar (FCR) manufactured by Westinghouse for the McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II. AN/APQ-120 has a long line of lineage, with its origin traced all the way back to Aero-13 FCR developed by the same company in the early 1950s. A total of half a dozen FCRs were tested and evaluated on the first 18 F-4s built, but they were soon replaced by later radars produced in great numbers, including AN/APQ-120.
The Grifo radar is a family of airborne radars developed by Italian firm Leonardo S.p.A. for fighter aircraft and attack aircraft, and this family of radars includes several series.