Pakistan's Airborne Early Warning and Control Aircrafts

[TangoViking]

PAF got the high-end installation of BOW in HES-21 with the Digital Receiver and interferometer antenna arrays on the wing tips.

BOW - Radar Warning - ESM System

Unlike traditional RWR designs, the BOW narrowband receiver is a four-channel device with full monopulse capability. This means that the narrowband receiver can be used to detect not only CW and high PRF signals but any type of signal that falls within its bandwidth. The local oscillator is a high-speed synthesiser which permits optimised search based on library information. The precise synthesiser and a narrowband DFD give excellent frequency accuracy and resolution.

Both receivers have their own video processors, which independently characterise every single pulse. Direction-finding accuracy is achieved by continuous calibration of the RF chains. The narrowband receiver is normally searching but can also be cued by the wideband receiver.

http://products.saabgroup.com/PDBWebNew/GetFile.aspx?PathType=ProductFiles&FileType=Files&Id=7852

Configurations from basic RWR to high
performance ESM and ELINT system applications
can be defined from the same
basic architecture. Sensor-coverage, system
functions and data interfaces are adapted
to match the requirements of the particular
application.

The receiver sub-systems for the
BOW family’s high end configurations also
include a Digital Receiver and interferometer
antenna arrays, resulting in long detection
range, detailed analysis and fingerprinting
of complex signals and high performance
emitter location. That creates excellent performance
and ESM/ELINT capabilities. All
receiver sub-systems cover basic frequency
ranges and have 360° DF-coverage.

Direction Finding accuracy is less than one degree.

 

[dbc]

The Hawkeye can't in any version scan 360 all at the same time, it acheives so called 360 by not having the fast refresh rate of a fixed system. If you have the dome rotating and spot a cruise missile... can you afford the many seconds it takes to get another update? No, so the E3D method is to stop the dome and look into interesting areas. That also means it's no longer refreshing 360. By changing the array in the E-2C to a ESA in 2D they could reduce refresh rates without any redesign to the aircraft and functionallity. But still for priority tracking the array must be fixed like the arrays on ALL aesa-based AEW's around the world.

When would the PAF need full 360 on the radar? Both the IAF and PAF AEW's would naturally fly alongside the border to support the situational picture. The other option, flying towards the border means very soon you will be close to crossing over. In just a few minutes. That serves no purpose and is illogical. And then there's the ground radars and other AEW's that also watch the sky so the aircraft itself doesnt only have its own tactical methods for flying the radar and a long range SPS to rest on.

People who dismisses the ESM/IFF/HES-21 as only a RWR is blatantly wrong.

There's no reason why the Chinese systems wouldn't work with the erieyes in both contributing to the joint situational picture.

The dome on the Hawkeye does not "stop rotating" and yes it does allow 360 deg coverage baring degraded performance at 45 deg off-beam point and beyond.

"People who dismisses the ESM/IFF/HES-21 as only a RWR is blatantly wrong." - please elaborate?

"There's no reason why the Chinese systems wouldn't work with the erieyes in both contributing to the joint situational picture. "

I was referring to pairing of Erieye with KJ-200, do you believe SAAB will agree to do this and in the process share IP with Pakistan / China?

 

[dbc]

Please see post 1470 for some background on this now inane discussion.

As to the your points about the need for more, there should be realization that Over the Horizon radar coverage as afforded by the Erieyes is not the only asset available to Pakistan. We have a very well integrated ground based radar network available too. Although some gaps remain however between the ground based radars and the Erieyes, PAF will be in a very good overall situation to get early warning of any impending ingresses.

The threat to Pakistan is primarily uni-directional and in the past when we have had to face threats from both the Eastern and Western borders, we have employed our ground based radars to cater to such needs. The employment of Erieyes will be no different and more importantly, the Erieyes will fill the gaps that the ground based radar coverage has. As such optimal employment and sensor fusion is more important to the PAF than worrying about maintaining 3-4 AEW flights simultaneously on station 24x7 given the current envisaged threat.

In case of hostilities, IAF will be moving many of their assets closer to the Pakistan border in any case. In such cases, although early warning by Erieye will be better than what is available currently, even then it will be limited (this goes for India as well) because the attacking aircraft are so close to their intended targets. As such the role of Pakistani Erieyes will not just be providing early warning and doing so all on their own, because as stated, they will be backed by a pretty well integrated layer of recently upgraded ground based radars. Secondly, Erieyes will be providing the very essential control function to the combat assets and for this the numbers purchased from Sweden and those to be acquired from China will suffice.

Good to finally hear from someone in the know. I understand now that the Erieye is one important piece in your air defense strategy , but will the Erieye ever be used in support of an offensive operation deep in enemy territory (India)?

 

[TaimiKhan]

Good to finally hear from someone in the know. I understand now that the Erieye is one important piece in your air defense strategy , but will the Erieye ever be used in support of an offensive operation deep in enemy territory (India)?

No plans for deep offensive strategy, nor can we support it nor is Indian Army that weak.

Our strategy is defensive, with limited offense capability.

As some guys say offense is the best defense

 

[Patriot]

The AWACS will stay behind the borders...not only Pakistani but Indians also.

 

[TangoViking]

Replies in bold.

The dome on the Hawkeye does not "stop rotating" and yes it does allow 360 deg coverage baring degraded performance at 45 deg off-beam point and beyond.

No. In the E-2D the radar array stops.

"People who dismisses the ESM/IFF/HES-21 as only a RWR is blatantly wrong." - please elaborate?

It's obvious in the above follow up post. And on other available info from Saab.

"There's no reason why the Chinese systems wouldn't work with the erieyes in both contributing to the joint situational picture. "

I was referring to pairing of Erieye with KJ-200, do you believe SAAB will agree to do this and in the process share IP with Pakistan / China?

"pairing" ? It's all managed on a ground level that takes input from different clients to produce a quality assured situational picture for command. It's not at all complicated to integrate. It's just target and geo data in x/y/z. Or do you actually think there's C&C consoles for every piece of sensor in the inventory?

............
Edit:

Quick google for the E-2D stuff.

The array can electronically scan in both stationary and
rotating mode, thus delivering increased system flexibility.

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/ms2/pdf/APY9-1209.pdf

 

[dbc]

Replies in bold.



............
Edit:

Quick google for the E-2D stuff.



http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/ms2/pdf/APY9-1209.pdf

Something’s you can't glean from google searches and product catalogues. The Hawkeye is the biggest bird on deck, extremely difficult to fly and even more difficult to land and to make matters worse the Hawkeye is not equipped with digital flight controls; it is flown entirely by a human pilot. I've heard from E-2 pilots that the dome needs to rotate at a constant 6 RPM for flight safety. Perhaps Gambit can bring his wisdom to this discussion and explain why.

 

[gambit]

Something’s you can't glean from google searches and product catalogues. The Hawkeye is the biggest bird on deck, extremely difficult to fly and even more difficult to land and to make matters worse the Hawkeye is not equipped with digital flight controls; it is flown entirely by a human pilot. I've heard from E-2 pilots that the dome needs to rotate at a constant 6 RPM for flight safety. Perhaps Gambit can bring his wisdom to this discussion and explain why.

The 6 rpm is for during radar operation. But the radome itself must continue to rotate, albeit at a much lower rpm, for lubrication purposes even when the radar is not in operation.

 

[Myth_buster_1]

Assuming the green squares in Growler’s map represent an Erieye and ignoring the unfillable gaps in coverage that extends well into India in at least three places at any given time (remember 60° blind spots fore and aft) three Erieye's is not enough simply because you cannot fly 3 of the 4 platforms 24/7 during a crisis -

You are just being a women.. thats it..
here is a bit more elaborated illustration for you.. its colorful

you will need at least two spares. As for 360° coverage I am still convinced it is essential if not while scanning then certainly while tracking hostiles - because the last thing you want is to lose a hostile being tracked in your blind spot, especially true if you tracking several terrain hugging supersonic cruise missiles or worst several supersonic anti-radiation missiles .

lady you do know Erieye is a airborne platform so it has no limitation as to where it can scan and track. your point of those 2 30 degree detection spots as being "blind spot" is totally totally wrong. it can scan that area and once the target is identify the air craft can simply position its self to bring that target within its 160 degree side lobe.

The Chinese system will not work with the Erieye, unless money and effort is expended in making the two systems compatible - an expensive proposition to say the least assuming both parties are willing to work together and agree to share IP.

They dont have to be linked with each other (however it will be even better) because both systems will be linked to ground command center and they can coordinate

Conclusion: Y'all will need more Erieye’s minimum 6, preferably 8 or 9.

conclusion: PAF has already signed a deal for 8 AEWC (erieye and ZDK-03) and may even execute the original plan for 6-7 Erieye systems in near future. Erieye is not gonna work in isolation and the entire force is not gonna be dependent on just 1-2 Erieyes operating in sky... infact their are so many systems such as long range ground base radars, another type of AEWC and data linked fighter jets so the burden is not just on erieyes.

 

[Myth_buster_1]

wow... i did not over lap the tri erieye systems 160 degree side lobe correctly in the previous map but here is just awesome result!!!

 

[dbc]

Looks like I was right after all 360 deg coverage is a concern for PAF , according to the Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman PAF will get 4 KJ-2000 (IL-76) from China in 2011.

Early warning aircraft inducted into PAF By Iftikhar A. Khan & Yaqoob Malik
Friday, 01 Jan, 2010

 

[Sapper]

Looks like I was right after all 360 deg coverage is a concern for PAF , according to the Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman PAF will get 4 KJ-2000 (IL-76) from China in 2011.

I think hte above report is mistaken ... simply because China has very few IL76 platforms and they are themselves looking for more IL76 airframes.

Again ... please remember that all reports (except last one) suggest that Pakistan is not getting KJ2000 (two thousand), instead Pakistan is getting ZDK-03 loosely based on KJ200 (two hundred) with possible changes to mount a radome with 360 degree coverage with either spinning array or 3xstatic arrays, no one except PAF knows the details so lets not speculate.

Regards,
Sapper

 

[dbc]

I think hte above report is mistaken ... simply because China has very few IL76 platforms and they are themselves looking for more IL76 airframes.

Again ... please remember that all reports (except last one) suggest that Pakistan is not getting KJ2000 (two thousand), instead Pakistan is getting ZDK-03 loosely based on KJ200 (two hundred) with possible changes to mount a radome with 360 degree coverage with either spinning array or 3xstatic arrays, no one except PAF knows the details so lets not speculate.

Regards,
Sapper

Sapper, your preeminent english language newspaper claims the Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman made the above statement during a press conference, I don't see how you can call that speculation?

 

[Rank]

I think hte above report is mistaken ... simply because China has very few IL76 platforms and they are themselves looking for more IL76 airframes.

Again ... please remember that all reports (except last one) suggest that Pakistan is not getting KJ2000 (two thousand), instead Pakistan is getting ZDK-03 loosely based on KJ200 (two hundred) with possible changes to mount a radome with 360 degree coverage with either spinning array or 3xstatic arrays, no one except PAF knows the details so lets not speculate.

Regards,
Sapper

I am also confused about this news KJ-2000. Still not understand how is that possible to get 4 KJ2000 I still need Authentic source from proper Airforce Source. These reports something wrong. China itsself have just few IL series Aircrafts how is that possible Pakistan will get 4 KJ-2000. Technically its not possible in such short time especially.

 

[Ababeel]

Can any one reply this question:
As we know that JF-17 has a KLJ7 or 10 RADAR with a range of +105Km, is it possible that a SAAB Erieye 2000 with 350Km range RADAR, tracks a SU-30MKI and pass the data, e.g. direction, distance etc. to JF-17 to engage it?
Is it possible?