HAL to test ELM-2052 AESA on LCA-Tejas, while Deal hangs on for 83 Jets
Defense PSU Hindustan Aeronautic Limited (HAL) will be integrating an ELTA’s ELM-2052 Airborne AESA Fire Control Radar (FCR) procured originally for the Jaguar Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation (DARIN III) upgrade program in its preparation for the manufacturing upgraded 83 Tejas Mk1A which company plans to test many of the features and equipment before first Tejas Mk1A jet is ready for first flight by 2023.
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.
EL/M-2052 Elta HAL radar is a GaN-based radar with 1500 TRMs. It can track 64 targets simultaneously. It has a range of 290 km in the Air to Sea Mode while in the Air to Air Mode, it is rumored to be between 150 to 200 km for a 1 sq.m RCS, not 3 sq.m
Another very authoritative source says that based on the TRM module count and power output a good initial ballpark estimate would suggest that EL/M 2052 radar might be comparable to APG-77 or APG-81 radars. This information is kept secretive but India and Israel might be planning to develop EL/M-2052 version that uses gallium nitride TRMs. By analogy to the Saab GlobalEye AESA radar (which was produced in GaAs and GaN versions), a GaN version of the EL/M 2052 might have up to 70% greater range than the APG-77 or APG-81 based estimate.
So even the second rung aircraft of India will have radars with much superior detection range than topmost fighter jets that are or could be available to Pakistan. This is a fact not overstated by us but apprehensively admitted by own Pakistan observers in hushed tones. That is not all. India is very close to developing a High Band Jammer. Everything about this High Band Jammer has been sorted out just complicated cooling system DRDO is working upon. DRDO had given firm assurance and that was a long time back that by the beginning of 2019 this High Band Jammer will be ready lock, stock, and barrel. So whatever little ability Pakistan Air Force may have acquired by acquiring its Chinese made AESA radar.
