BAe Sea Harrier - Technical data and discussion

[warhead_beast]

i think i stumbled on a scientific paper about british radar development about a year ago, i can try to find it again

im not sure this was the one
but

The post-war development of fighter radar in Europe - A British perspective

The 1970s in the U.K. saw two fighter radar developments. Firstly Ferranti won a contract to equip the FRS 1 Sea Harrier with a small, non-coherent, pulse radar, primarily aimed at interceptions using the AIM-9L Sidewinder missile. This radar was the first in Europe to use a waveguide planar array antenna with monopulse tracking. The spin-tuned magnetron transmitter was frequency agile over 5% in X-band, a technique borrowed from the maritime surveillance Seaspray radar in the Lynx helicopter and, in fact, licenced originally from Philips in Sweden where it had been developed for shipborne use. Packaging the frequency agile system for airborne application required microstripline R.F. hybrid circuits which the company developed in-house. The FRS 1 saw action in the Falklands War in 1982 where it provided the mainstay of fleet defence against the Argentinean air attack.

[MatrixRupture]

84 it was upgraded IIRC
Should have a HUD display in it

[Sea_Harrier_FRS1]

But was it changed much? I’ve read somewhere (I think it might be here) that it was x2 more capable and maybe had a PD mode but I wanted to check as it seems common knowledge that it had no PD

[Morvran]

They got the twin rails in 1982, just after the Falklands. When NAS809 returned to the Falklands with HMS Illustrious to take up air defence, they returned with dual rails. They maintained CAP until the end of the year, when Phantoms took over

[MatrixRupture]

No, to my understanding the upgrade was mostly under the radar as there was already focus on making the Blue Vixen was blue falcon at the time IIRC.

It did however use its frequency agility to combat jamming targets as it could go through a few frequencies meaning the enemy aircraft would have to jam across a wider range.

[Morvran]

Not long now till we see what the SHars are like in the update

[MatrixRupture]

Yep wonder if anything has been fixed since last dev.

[MatrixRupture]

0 Shar HUD fixes

Can not even use the Gun in sim as the sight is wank

[Gunjob]

Fixed for the EEGS is still in progress.

[MatrixRupture]

Is the cannon on air target mode fixed?

[Gunjob]

That is EEGS as I said, its in progress.

[MatrixRupture]

What about the regular gyro sight for when you can not get a radar lock?

I assume that’s being worked on too.

Thanks for the update.

[Gunjob]

CCIL is also part of the EEGS report yes.

[MatrixRupture]

Awesome just have to wait until the next patch hopefully.

Is there any news about the Flaps and performance?

The STR and ITR (with VIFF) are still well below the marks seen in the tactical manual

[Morvran]

Still cant access the AAM sight mode if you have bombs unfortunately. Was hoping that would at least get fixed. But happy to report CCIP/CCRP symbology seems to be fixed on both airframes

[Gunjob]

Auto switching of AAM still in progress.

[Morvran]

Lets just hope it doesnt take ages. I like running a few bombs on the SHars in SB, and its annoying that all that symbology is in-accessible with bombs strapped to the airframe. Thankfully, dropping them fixing that issue, so at a push. I can just ditch the bombs (which I would in a proper dogfight)

Any idea why they made the decision for the “AAM” sight mode over the symbology just appearing in the “standard” mode like it does for literally every other aircraft? Or is it just a test case before rolling it out to others

[Morvran]

Another change, no idea if its on more aircraft or not. But the Sea Harrier FA2’s RWR sounds different

[AblativeKitten]

I swear the GR.7/T.10 sounds different as well

[Morvran]

I’ll have a play after this ASB match