Yes, no switch turning or careful maneuvering necessary. As long as a target is within line of sight it can find out friend or foe from one of a myriad of sensors available. The Rafale picks that up a notch and uses the sensors to quickly find and interrogate targets without needing to do as much scanning. The sensor fusion means everything talks to each other and it clears the picture up for the pilot rapidly.
Eurofighter needs to look at the target and build an A/A track to determine IFF using the main antenna, not sure what other systems it has but that’s my way of saying I couldn’t find anything else on it. Odd, since BAE systems is so quick to talk about any other IFF on the planet.
im sure a newer F-15, with Legion pod for more sensor data and more recent software, could do this as well.
also, while reading through the APX-111 technical data on the PDF you sent, i noticed it said that it had 5 fuseagle ESA antennas which could mean greater FOV for IFF operation
same thing for the APX-126 on the F-16
also for BAE F-15 CIT
due to the variety of antenna options for the APX-114, and the same variety in antenna options for the other IFF systems, i think the APX-114 could very well have multiple antennas to give better coverage
Those systems are not integrated into the onboard systems and take away from the aircrafts RCS, payload capacity, performance, etc.
These are much newer systems, I was unaware they had electronic scanning capability. The system on the Rafale has been in use since the Rafale A demonstrator in 1986 though and I would not say that they had this capability in the 70s.
The Eurofighter was supposed to enter service in '98 and even then it would not have PESA, sensor fusion, etc. The IFF and MAWS in particular are totally legacy systems that are indicative of expected early 80s performance but has not been improved since.
The Rafale from the onset has had these modern systems.
APX-111 development was initiated in 1993, F-18’s in the US did not start receiving them until 1997 and 500 were upgraded with it by 2003. I’ll reiterate that the French Rafale had a better system as early as 1986.
It does have a very comprehensive sensor fusion system. I just haven’t got around to reporting it yet. And it seems no one else can be bothered to do so.
1988, but yes, they did have a better IFF system. The APX-100 may have some ESA capability since the Forecast International report on it mentions solid state electronics, which E-scan has, but could be referring to other parts of it.
There is also the possibility that the Rafale’s started out conventional and got upgraded to an E-scan antenna later down the line
bug reports maybe, but seeing as the reports are sponsored by the manufacturer, and are about the market history/future of a product, i dont see any reason why the timeline would be inaccurate.
even for the technical data, it just looks like the Forecast international one is using information on an older variant of the APX-111 than the BAE pdf on it.
AMRAAM program dates are wrong on official websites, I don’t see BAE being that much better about it. Development in-house may have began in 1988 or perhaps it pivoted towards that goal in '93 but the truth is that nothing was truly equipped with them until 1997 when the F-18’s started being retrofit. These were the first, and that is already 11 years after the Rafale A flew with the same capabilities.
