EUROFIGHTER ANNOUNCED at Farnborough on July 13 that flight trials of the E-Scan radar (Captor-E) have begun following the successful completion of ground tests using a UK Eurofighter Typhoon test aircraft, clearing the path towards full integration of the radar. The ground tests were carried out on Instrumented Production Aircraft 5 (IPA5)/ZJ700 with the detection and tracking of airborne targets at significant range.
Flight tests have now begun at BAE Systems’ site in Warton, Lancashire, where IPA5 undertook its first sortie with the radar installed on July 8, when it was airborne for around one hour. A second test aircraft, IPA8 based in Germany, is also set to join the integration programme.
Andrew Cowdery, Chairman of Euroradar, said: “The Typhoon Captor-E provides significantly more power than most competing systems and we’re looking forward to demonstrating the combat edge this brings to the platform in live flight trials. Combined with the fighter’s large nose aperture and the ability to move the radar antenna, the Typhoon has a field of view of 200° and the flight tests will show the discriminating advantages this will bring.”
The trials are designed to ensure the radar and weapons system reach the required capability in time for first deliveries to the Kuwait Air Force (KAF), which became the aircraft’s eighth customer earlier this year. The E-Scan Radar equipment and weapons system capability will be incrementally enhanced over the next three years to enable the required capability (P3E Standard) to be available for the first deliveries to the KAF.
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