Eurofighter to be boosted by new radar

LONDON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- A new radar system will make the Eurofighter Typhoon more attractive to international buyers, designers say.

The companies responsible for the jet's current radar system are proposing to Eurofighter consortium partners Britain, Germany and Italy a rotating e-scan radar known as Caesar, Defensenews.com reports.

While the current mechanically scanned Captor radar system is fixed, the new system will rotate to increase its efficiency.

The so-called Euroradar consortium wants to put the new radar system into the Tranche 3 jets to be delivered over the next years to Britain, Germany and Italy.

"We believe the repositionable antenna is the way ahead and this will be approved by the Eurofighter partners," Bob Mason, a senior official at Selex Galileo, a member of the Euroradar consortium that also includes EADS and Indra, told Defensenews.com. "It will be a differentiator in the export market place when competing against French and U.S. competitors which feature only fixed antennae."

Because it is rotating and because of the angle it will be placed on the jet's body, the movable e-scan radar system yields a much wider radar beam that gives the pilot an increased angle of coverage.

Critics say movable radars are more error-prone and costly to repair, but Mason said the technology will succeed.

"We say that the increase in both air-to-air and air-to-ground capability far outweighs any minimal increase in maintenance," Mason told Defensenews.com. "We would like to get at least a view of a common requirement by year end (from Eurofighter partners). Everyone recognizes the need for AESA radar for export campaigns like India," he said.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine canard-delta wing multirole aircraft, designed and built by a consortium formed in 1986 that besides BAE includes German-Spanish European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and Italy's Finmeccanica. The maiden flight of the Eurofighter prototype took place in March 1994.

Last month Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain signed a $13 billion order contract for a total of 112 Eurofighter jets.

EADS hopes to sell the Eurofighter to India, which is looking for a massive upgrade for its fighter jet fleet.

Selex Galileo is part of the Finmeccanica defense electronics sector, employing more than 7,000 people in Britain, Italy and the United States.