Are you for real, AESA packaging and cooling solutions are more compact and efficient then any other mechanicl counterpart. Infact that is also one of the major advantages of AESA. Do you have any idea how much heat mechanical radars emit and the amount of hardware and cooling solutions required for conventonal radars.
IPF
Another person with hardly reliable info... Sorry to say but I have read a lot more about AESA then average poster. You should think how F22 had to change lots of things just bacause of cooling... Resetting computers was one of the problems!
You still have no money to buy a decent aircraft but you want the best possible radar on it? Let me give you a thumbrule... AESA is okay if multi engined and atleast 4 BVR... Otherwise you have performed a circus act like giving Bison BVR capability
I spoke to pilots that fly Romanian BVR Mig21. They did agee... Not happy but still agreed.
Can I hear more of you background? I do not expect that someone with electronics or aviation background can say that AESA is easier to install then conventional radars..
BTW it is not stealth. Anything that emits signals can be tracked. The problem is you need more computing power cause the radar can scan in sectors and so others will not able to track the signal...
>>>Standard equipment for fifth-generation fighters, Active Electronically Scanned Array radars are breathing new life into legacy military and Coast Guard aircraft
Ed McKenna
The operational launch of the F-22 Raptor clearly signaled a changing of the guard for the United States fighter force. Bristling with advanced sensors and weapons systems, the fifth-generation Raptor, along with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, will take the lead in future war fighting efforts.
These new aircraft are also prompting a renewed retrofit focus on former generation fighters, including the addition of next-generation technologies to make many F/A-18, F-15 and F-16 fighters viable over the next two decades.
Critical to these upgrade efforts is Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar. This technology, which is standard on the fifth-generation aircraft, will become the sensor backbone for many of the earlier platforms. Lauded for its versatility, AESA radar also is being deployed on U.S. Coast Guard HC-130H surveillance aircraft and fighters destined for international customers.
Despite the operational and financial benefits, the campaign to outfit legacy fighters with AESA technology is running into some challenges, namely power, cooling and system costs.
AESA is the "latest and greatest (and) most desirable radar technology out there," said William Ostrove, electronics analyst for Forecast International, Newtown, Conn. The growth in AESA sales will help boost the worldwide radar market to $50 billion over the next 10 years, Ostrove said. Radars based on mechanically scanned arrays will still make up the bulk of the systems on the market, but the more expensive AESA units will account for a growing percentage of production over the decade.
AESA manufacturers, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman top Forecast International’s list of radar producers. There are also a number international consortia and companies involved, such as Selex Galileo, Thales and Israel Aerospace Industries.
Carving out a niche in the U.S. military market, AESA radar is also being sought by a number of countries that are purchasing aircraft, such as Singapore and United Arab Emirates. The Indian air force has made AESA radar a requirement in its Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft competition. That tender for 126 aircraft features a faceoff between six of the world’s leading fighter aircraft — the Lockheed Martin F-16, Boeing