Anything in the Air Force’s inventory in or before 1999 is considered test service. This is almost the same as the XF-2, and is no different from the experimental aircraft. According to the article I provided, it says that AN/APG63(V)2 began operation in December 2000. This article is based on official news from Raytheon Corporation.Next, we can see that the first mass-produced F-2 was delivered in September 2000 and began operation in October.This shows that the F-2 began operations earlier.
And we know this is not correct because the last 3 of the 18 aircraft completed modification in December. The article either means 63v2 reaches IOC in December of 2000 because it has outfitted an entire squadron, or is wrong. Either way, the F-2 did not reach squadron sized strength by December of 2000 so it still loses.
Completing a renovation and starting operations are two different concepts.It is also wrong to say that he did not join the squadron. A temporary F-2 squadron was established in the 3rd Wing in October 2000.
Is it? Or is it just confusion about the use of “operational”? I’ll rephrase it
The F-2 was a fully combat capable aicraft mounting it in 1996, but not yet in service. The F-15 mounted it in 2000, and entered service vefore the F-2.
Was that mounted on a fully functional F-15 or just the radar? Those two are very different things. If it’s just the radar I’ll have to disappoint you here, since there were FS-X AESA radar prototypes before it was opened up for collaboration with other countries in 1986, such as a multi array AESA setup built for the Mitsubishi JF-210.
Though I guess if you do mean functional F-15s fitted with it in 1988 that is impressive.
I can agree with this somewhat. The F-15C was the first AESA fighter in service, if it was in service before September 2000. Though from what I understand APG-63(V)2 was still experimental, so J/APG-1 would still be the first serial production AESA fighter radar, though that is arguably splitting hairs.
Sadly things like this are very much normal when researching anything Japanese.
Depends when a functional radar was fitted on an equally functional airframe. For the F-2 that was on the fourth XF-2 prototype used for weapons testing in 1996, I’m not too familiar with the F-22 development, but if a prototype did mount AESA earlier that would make it the first.
Though once again you need to separate between tesing of an aircraft with AESA and just the radar itself, since those give very different results.
Different sources, I don’t remember exactly, I have more than one of them for maneuvering.
30 degrees is probably realistic in a clean configuration.
Full A/A weapons, cca 70% fuel- 25 deg/sec instantaneous turn rate
Was mounted and present in a testing so it would have to be within an evaluation squadron of the US as Raytheon does not own any F-15C airframes, aka, the same situation as the F-2 in this situation. This is not in service however as it is not in service with the squadron said 18 F-15Cs are to be assigned to, that being the 3WG.
The AN/APG-63(V)2’s 18 unit production run was an LRP serialized run of 18 units not an experimental batch.
The Two YF-22 units both were used for AIM-120B testing prior to the main production run of the F-22, so they would have to have their radar present unless somehow an external aircraft or radar array is guiding said missiles.
Wasn’t it obly ecaluation and went into the development of AN/APG-63(V)3?
They could always have had placeholder radars. The F-2 for example was supposed to use AN/APG-68 for testing before J/APG-1 was ready. Though this was never actually fitted, as the J/APG-1 prototype was ready in time for the XF-2B weapons test aircraft.
No. It was operational use, equipping an entire active duty squadron. Test and Evaluation occurs at Eglin AFB, Florida. The squadron was at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. It did not see widespread use because of maintenance issues and the refined V3 radar coming shortly after. Lessons learned from the V2 went into improving the V3
I can’t really understand what you want to say…
At the very least, aircraft are generally not put into service immediately after being refurbished. Usually, they go on a mission after passing a test. In other words, the F-15C will be the world’s first AESA radar fighter to be deployed to a squadron that is not a test squadron. However, the F-2 is the world’s first AESA radar fighter to be put into actual operation.
Again you don’t know what you are talking about.
These aircraft were already a part of an active squadron. Having 1-2 aircraft down for a month or 2 at a hangar getting modifications and then flying immediately after completing them is literally how it works. They are not being ‘refurbished’. They go, they get the mod, they go back to the line. That is how this works, because by 2000 the APG-63V2 had already completed test and evaluation. When the aircraft were getting them, it was entering operational status. The LAST of 18 aircraft completed modification in December of 2000. The first of those 18 aircraft completed modification well before that. In my experience it’s 1-2 months per aircraft, at most 2 aircraft at a time. You can do the math.
Since Boeing states that it was delivered, there is no doubt that the aircraft was in operation. So why did Raytheon say December? A plausible hypothesis is that aircraft carrying the AN/APG63(v)2 were probably in service before 1999, but the radar itself had not reached operational capability. The radar probably achieved operational capability in December 2000.It is said that early AESA radars had a high failure rate even during operation. This also applies to AN/APG63(V)2 and J/APG-1. I think this is appropriate in order to harmonize the claims of both Boeing and Raytheon.
Yes. The radar had not reached IOC, which is a specific aircraft availability requirement. US F-15Cs outfitted with APG-63V2 were flying routinely for pilot training or air defense patrols well before IOC is reached.
Outfitting an entire squadron more than fulfills that IOC requirement, which is a far cry from what the F-2 could do by December of 2000.
