Yes that’s what i was stating, my sentence was maybe a bit confusing :
We have a RBE2 AESA in game that kind of behaves like a RBE2 PESA
And some other PESA in the US for B-1 and B-52
Ah really? didn’t know that
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Do any EFTs even officially have AESA?
Yes.
Kuwait, Qatar and Germany all have Typhoons in operational service with CAPTOR-E. Have done so for a few years now
Britain has test aircraft with CAPTOR-E installed (they waited for the Mk2 and so a little behind the curve) but that is more than enough for Gaijin
No, they quite literally didnt wanna use a first generation AESA vs an end-generation M-scan radar, that was explicitly stated.
First gen tech tends to have a lot of issues that need to be worked out, improved, etc… while end-generation systems often tend to outperform the first gen of a new tech. Its what often makes switching to a new type of tech difficult at first, as what the new tech has is unrealized potential, and what the old tech has is reliable fully explored capabilities. Its not like they were slacking either, the EFT consortium did continue working on an AESA as primary radar, its slow integration is most likely simply due to the circumstances of the global situation for Europe since the EFT’s introduction.
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Source for the German one?
It’s possible that may happen in the future in terms of addition but I have not seen Gaijin give any plane in the game its “tested” radar.
I know I’m using AI but it doesn’t even seem the Tranche 4 Quadriga for Germany was even delivered let alone put into service.
Saw something previously about it being planned for “later that year” and it was an article from the start of last year or something. Was a while ago, and I think it was German, so I cant find it easily. But would have been linked here on the forums.
Why?
Rafale only has HMD because it was “tested” im not sure why denying CAPTOR-E (which is the ONLY AESA option for 2 nations) purely because its "only" been tested is a valid reason. it IS in service on Typhoon for 2 nations. That is already more than enough.
Then it has 100% been fitted to British Typhoon as well
This fact cannot be denied.
Im not sure why the EFT must be artifically nerfed all the time.
Germany is also upgrading their T2/T3s. Im fairly certain its a few of these that recieved a radar so far if im not mistaken.
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Pesa by then was not new technology though… Soviet Union has been using it in their fighter jets (mig 31) since the 80s. It’s just makes 0 sense to go without any form of esa until the 2020s.
Kinda hilarious how they took longer than Russia for an aesa plane
Best I can find is
Which shows they have begun full production of the Mk1 which is what Germany is planning to mostly use for its upgrade of its existing fleet.
So at a bare minimum. They will be upgrading very soon.
Im fairly certain CAPTOR-M was considered better than the PESA radar fitted to the early Rafale.
CAPTOR-M is about as close to AESA as you can get without actually having AESA. Combine with sensor fusion with the PIRATE and multi-aircraft sensor links. Its pretty clear why CAPTOR-M and typhoon has done so well without AESA.
Pesa on rafale was only “relatively” terrible because of its small size. Big pesas like those on the flankers match or even exceed the aesas on rafale in many scenarios (such as range)
I would argue any pesa is much closer to aesa than any mech scan radar
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forgive me for saying so, but this is a quite poor excuse.
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Only thing the CAPTOR-M couldnt compete with was scan speed. Though again, only when looked at alone. Combine with PIRATE and 2+ aircraft. That limitation goes away
It could P-Track, interleave scan, SARs, etc etc, just as well as most AESA radars and again, AESA has been an option for the Typhoon for the better part of the last 2 decades. Clearly there must have been a reason to wait
Captor m is inferior to pesas of comparable size in many ways…
Range is a big factor (100miles is highest official range I’ve seen for captor m compared to over 200km of n011m)
Number of targets tracked and number of simultaneous targets engaged at once is another deficiency.
Scan rate as you’ve said.
As well as gimbal limits (esa radars have potential of much higher gimbal limits, for example, mech scan n011 of su-35 was limited to ± 90 degrees compared to the ±125 degrees of n035, the latest n011 derivative with pesa)
Overall going to at least a pesa would’ve been massive for eurofighter imo
Again, clearly not, otherwise they would have done it.
They could have outfitted with AESA at the same time the Rafale did, but chose not to.
If im not mistaken, also a much larger radar. About 3 times the size. (quick google, NO11M is about 650kg vs CAPTOR-M at 200kg.
So yes, a much larger radar would have greater range, but also come at the cost of needing a much larger airframe to handle it. As we see in game, Typhoon runs laps around the Su-30SM.
Though 160km range for a fighter and 370km for an airliner isnt that bad for “only a M-Scan”
Though, again, the max im seeing reported for NO11M is 400km and a tracking range of 200km. So PESA + Triple the size for about 10% more range?
Only wiki but NO11M could only handle 15 targets and only engage 4
CAPTOR-M could track 20 (i think, maybe more), P-Track at least 6 and engage 6 targets.
so… Again, PESA isnt always better.
and thats without factoring in Sensor fusion of PIRATEs 200 TWS
Sure… but again, much larger radars. and not always needed. CAPTOR-E though provides a greater FoV than that.
Most of the west skipped PESA, France is kinda unique in the fact that they didnt.