Indian Jaguar 'test-flown with AESA radar'

Rahul Bedi - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly

14 August 2017

Key Points

• HAL says it has test-flown a Jaguar fitted with an AESA radar
• It remains unclear how many Jaguars are likely to receive such an upgrade

India’s state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) claims to have successfully test-flown an Indian Air Force (IAF) SEPECAT Jaguar multirole fighter fitted with an imported active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar in Bangalore on 10 August.

The Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)/Elta-built radar, ground tested in February, would allow the Jaguars to track multiple targets and communicate in multiple frequencies via a higher bandwidth, HAL officials told Jane’s . It would also offer the twin-engine Jaguars “interleaved modes of operation, and higher accuracy and image resolution” as part of their ongoing upgrade by HAL aimed at extending their operational life by more than a decade.

Source

IAF’s Jaguar Plane With Advanced AESA Radar Tested For The First Time

The upgraded Jaguar Darin III would boost the capability of IAF, reports claim, as it is now equipped with features including multi target tracking frequency agility, higher bandwidth of operation, interleaved modes of operation, higher accuracies and resolution.

By India.com News Desk | Updated: August 10, 2017 7:36 PM IST

For the first time, pilots at the defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (HAL), tested the Indian Air Force‘s Jaguar fighter plane with the advanced radars. The planes were fitted with AESA, or the active electronically scanned array radars procured from the Israeli firm ELTA.

The AESA radar would be fitted for use in all pieces of Jaguar Darin III planes, which is being upgraded by the HAL. Apart from the AESA, 28 other sensors would also be attached to the aircraft.

The upgraded Jaguar Darin III would boost the capability of IAF, reports claim, as it is now equipped with features including multi target tracking frequency agility, higher bandwidth of operation, interleaved modes of operation, higher accuracies and resolution.

The new features will increase the operational capacity of Jaguar Darin III by at least another decade. The IAF had approved the upgrade plans last year, with the aircraft receiving the initial operational clearance (IOC) on November 2016.

“The upgrade incorporates new state-of-the-art avionics architecture including the Open System Architecture Mission Computer (OSAMC), Engine and Flight Instrument System (EFIS), Fire Control Radar, Inertial Navigation System with GPS and Geodetic height correction, et al,” the statement issued by HAL was quoted as saying by TOI.

The aircraft would also be equipped of Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVRS), Solid State Flight Data Recorder (SSFDR), Smart Multi-Function Display (SMD), it added.

Among other unique features of Jaguar Darin III, include the Radio Altimeter with 20,000 ft range, Autopilot with Alt Select and Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF).

At present, the IAF has six squadrons of Jaguar, with 20 fighters each. They are stationed in Ambala, Jamnagar and Gorakhpur. The Jaguar fighter planes are considered to be the most crucial component of IAF’s arsenal, considering its on-board weaponry, along with the use of laser guided bombs. Defence experts have termed Jaguar as the ‘deep penetration strike aircraft’, which could be effectively used to destroy surface targets, including enemy camps, air bases and warships. Source

blog.forecastinternational.com

It is speculated that the radar is the ELM-2052........

LM-2052 - Active Electronic Scan Array Airborne Fire Control Radar

General

The ELM-2052 is an advanced Fire Control Radar (FCR) designed for air-to-air superiority and strike missions, based on fully solid-state Active Ellectronically Scanning Array (AESA) technology, enabling the radar to achieve long detection ranges, high mission reliability and multi-target tracking capabilities.

The ELM-2052 radar provides simultaneous modes of operation supporting multi-mission capabilities for air-to-air, air-to-ground and air-to-sea operation modes, and weapon deployment. 

In the air-to-air mode, the radar delivers very long-range multi target detection and enables several simultaneous weapon deliveries in combat engagements. 

In air-to-ground missions, the radar provides very high resolution SAR mapping, surface moving target detection and tracking over RBM and SAR maps in addition to A/G ranging.

In air-to-sea missions the radar provides long-range target detection and tracking, including target classification capabilities (RS, ISAR).

The ELM-2052 radar design reflects ELTA’s vast field-proven radar experience and operational feedback received from Israeli Air Force fighter pilots.

 Features

• Solid-state, active phased array technology
• Pulse Doppler, all aspect, shoot down capabilities
• Simultaneous multi-target tracking and engaging
• Simultaneous multi-mode operation
• High ECM immunity
• Ultra-low side-lobe antenna
• Sigma, two axis monopulse and guard channels
• Flexible interfaces and growth potential:
  - Modular hardware and software
  - Spare memory and computing power
• High mission reliability (built with redundancy)

Operational Modes

Air-to-Air

• TWS/Multi-target detection and tracking
• Multi-target ACM
• High resolution raid assessment

Air-to-Ground 

• High resolution mapping (SAR Mode)
• AGR - Air-to-Ground Ranging
• RBM - Real Beam Map
• DBS - Doppler Beam Sharpening
• GMTI on RBM, SAR
• GMTT on RBM, SAR
• Beacon
• Weather

Air-to-Sea 

• Sea search and multi-target tracking
• RS and ISAR classification modes

Source

SEPECAT Jaguar

The SEPECAT Jaguar is a twin-engined single-seat fighter bomber jet aircraft for the close air support role produced by the British/French manufacturer SEPECAT, Société Européene de Production de l'Avion Ecole de Combat et d'Appui Tactique, a joint-venture of BAC, British Aircraft Corporation and Breguet (later Dassault-Breguet).

The main operators of the Jaguar were the French Air Force until 2005 with 160 Jaguar A and 40 Jaguar E two-seat trainer and the Royal Air Force until 2007 with 165 Jaguar GR.1 (Jaguar S) and 35 two-seat Jaguar T.2 (Jaguar B) trainer. The Indian Air Force received 160 Jaguar International of which 40 were built in UK and 120 by HAL in India as the Shamsher. The Jaguar was operated by Ecuador, Oman and Nigeria also. Source