Radar Doppler Multitarget (RDY in its French acronym) is a multimode Look-down/shoot-down Pulse-Doppler radar designed by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) for the Mirage 2000-5 fighter. The RDY-3 derivative has been fitted to Moroccan Mirage F1's. Thomson has claimed that the original RDY outperformed the AN/APG-66/68 of the F-16 and the AN/APG-65 of the F/A-18 Hornet. [1]
The original RDI/RDM radars on the Mirage 2000 only worked in air-to-air mode. [2] The RDY was designed to add air-to-ground modes, in particular the ability to control Exocet and Kormoran 2 anti-shipping missiles. [2] The 240 kg (530 lb) system has a 655 mm (25.8 in) flat-plate antenna scanning a 3.5° beam over a 60° cone at powers up to 120 kW. [2] Maximum range is 60 nmi (110 km) in air-to-air mode and 20 nmi (37 km) in look-down mode. [2] The RDY can detect 24 targets, track eight of them and engage four targets at a time. [2] The enhanced RDY-2 has a slightly greater range and adds a SAR mode.
Development began in 1984, with the first of nine prototypes flying in July 1987 in a Mystère 20, and the first delivery of a production set in December 1994.
RDY is the standard fit on the Mirage 2000–5,-5Mk2 (RDY-2) and -9 (RDY-2) aircraft and has been retrofitted aboard 37 French Air Force Mirage 2000Cs (aircraft to Mirage 2000-5F standard; 11 aircraft redelivered during 1998, 22 during 1999), 25 Greek Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 and 62 United Arab Emirates' Mirage 2000EAD/DADs. Other customers for the Mirage 2000-5 include Qatar (Mirage 2000-5EDA and -5DDA aircraft) and Taiwan (Mirage 2000-5Ei and -5Di aircraft). India's fleet will receive RDY-2 under a €1.47bn contract signed in July 2011 to upgrade them to 2000-5 standard.
As part of the MF2000 upgrade, 27 Mirage F1 of the Royal Moroccan Air Force are being fitted with the Thales RC400 (RDY-3 or RDC), a derivative of the RDY with an antenna sized to fit the smaller aircraft.
The Dassault Mirage III is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight, a feat which was achieved on 24 October 1958.
The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family.
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force. The Mirage 2000 evolved into a multirole aircraft with several variants developed, with sales to a number of nations. It was later developed into the Mirage 2000N and 2000D strike variants, the improved Mirage 2000-5, and several export variants. Over 600 aircraft were built and it has been in service with nine nations.
The Missile d’Interception, de Combat et d’Auto-défense or MICA is a French anti-air multi-target, all weather, fire-and-forget short and medium-range missile system manufactured by MBDA France. It is intended for use both by air platforms as individual missiles as well as ground units and ships, which can be equipped with the rapid fire MICA Vertical Launch System. It is fitted with a thrust vector control (TVC) system. It was developed from 1982 onward by Matra. The first trials occurred in 1991, and the missile was commissioned in 1996 to equip the Rafale and Mirage 2000. It is a replacement for both the Super 530 in the interception role and the Magic II in the dogfighting role.
An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the antenna. In the AESA, each antenna element is connected to a small solid-state transmit/receive module (TRM) under the control of a computer, which performs the functions of a transmitter and/or receiver for the antenna. This contrasts with a passive electronically scanned array (PESA), in which all the antenna elements are connected to a single transmitter and/or receiver through phase shifters under the control of the computer. AESA's main use is in radar, and these are known as active phased array radar (APAR).
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/APG-68 radar is a long range Pulse-doppler radar designed by Westinghouse to replace AN/APG-66 radar in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The AN/APG-68(V)8 and earlier radar system consists of the following line-replaceable units:
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 primary difference between the AWG-9 and APG-71 is the replacement of the former's analog computer with a digital computer. Both the AWG-9 and APG-71 were designed and manufactured by Hughes Aircraft; contractor support was later assumed by Raytheon. The AWG-9 was created for the canceled Navy F-111B program.
SMART-L is a long-range naval search radar introduced in 2002 by Thales Nederland, formerly Hollandse Signaalapparaten (Signaal).
Project ROSE was a program initiated by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) at their Pakistan Aeronautical Complex for the upgrade of the avionics of its aging Dassault Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighter jets, which had been built in either France or in Australia. The program focused on modernization of military avionics and on-board computer systems of the Mirage III/5, supplied by Pakistani Margella Electronics, French SAGEM and Italian SELEX consortiums, as part of the program.
The AN/APG-76 radar is a pulse Doppler Ku band multi-mode radar developed and manufactured by Northrop Grumman.
The Royal Moroccan Air Force is the air force of the Moroccan Armed Forces.
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.
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.
SMART-S Mk2(Signaal Multibeam Acquisition Radar for Tracking, S band Mk2) is a naval medium to long-range air and surface surveillance multibeam passive electronically scanned array 3D radar designed by Thales Nederland, formerly Hollandse Signaalapparaten (Signaal). While the original SMART-S radar was only produced in small numbers, SMART-S Mk2 is very successful. Only six years after its introduction, 30 systems were sold to navies all over the world. SMART-S Mk2 radar is equipped with transmitter/receiver (T/R) modules manufactured by Turkish defence company Aselsan. The radar transmitter/receiver (T/R) modules for the radar are purchased by Thales from Aselsan.
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.