On Fri, 2 Apr 2004 02:23:27 -0500, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


"John Cook" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 22:16:28 -0700, Scott Ferrin
wrote:




Gotta question about the following:

""USAF officials also rejected the forecast that the service will need
to spend $11.7 billion to introduce air-to-ground capabilities in the
F/A-22. Roche says planned upgrades, including a new radar and
small-diameter bomb, are budgeted and would cost less than $3.5
billion. . . ""



So when they say "new radar" are the talking about replacing the
APG-77 with an APG-XX or are they just talking about new software or a
mod of the -77? I'd ask what the hell they need a new radar for as
the F-22 itself is not even in service yet and it's *current* radar
should be considered "new" but seeing how it's been over a decade
since the YF-22 flew it's no wonder.

OK this is from memory... and the sources are not strictly 'official'.

I had heard some rumours that the F-35 and F-22 AESA antennae will be
merged because the MMIC's from the F-35 will be retrofitted to the
F-22's ( they are very expensive and larger.)

The number of MMIC's may also be the same in both aircraft to make a
common 'cheap' AESA antennae (1200 IIRC).


See
http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/p....mhtml?d=59037

"Northrop Grumman Begins Flight-Testing New Radar for F/A-22 Raptor
BALTIMORE, June 11, 2004 -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC)
has successfully conducted the first flight test of a new,
fourth-generation variant of the AN/APG-77 active electronically
scanned array radar for the U.S. Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor air
dominance fighter aircraft.

The new design is intended to reduce the production and maintenance
costs of the Raptor's third-generation radar by adapting the design
that was implemented successfully in the AN/APG-81 radar for the F-35
Joint Strike Fighter and the AN/APG-80 for the Block 60 F-16 fighter.
This newest variant requires significantly fewer parts than the
third-generation, and the production line relies on a greater degree
of automation.

In addition, Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector is
developing software for the new radar that will enable it to perform
high-resolution mapping of ground targets. This will permit true
all-weather, precision strike capability that will transform the air
dominance fighter into a multi-mission asset.

"We are proud to have developed this new capability for the F/A-22,"
said Jerry Dunnigan, director of F/A-22 Radar Programs at Northrop
Grumman. "We believe that the transformational capabilities of
high-resolution ground-mapping and automatic target cueing will ensure
that Raptor pilots have all the information they need when they go in
harm's way."

Based on current Department of Defense plans, Northrop Grumman will
deliver approximately 203 of the new radars. These include retrofits
for some of the third-generation radars already in service on
operational aircraft. Northrop Grumman is conducting the flight-test
program aboard one of its BAC 1-11 flying testbed aircraft. The
company produces the radar under contract to The Boeing Company's
(NYSE:BA) Integrated Defense Systems unit, which has responsibility
for integrating the avionic systems for the F/A-22 program, which is
led by Lockheed Martin's (NYSE:LMT) Aeronautics Company. Raytheon
Systems of McKinney, Tex., is a joint-venture partner on the radar. "


Cheers
John Cook

Any spelling mistakes/grammatic errors are there purely to annoy. All
opinions are mine, not TAFE's however much they beg me for them.

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