The Euroradar consortium is closing in on the flight-test phase for its Captor E-Scan active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, for the Eurofighter Typhoon.

A pair of instrumented production aircraft (IPA) will be used for the test effort – IPA5 from the UK and IPA8 from Germany – and are nearly ready for radar installation, says consortium chairman Andrew Cowdery.

“Both aircraft are nearing completion in terms of accepting the radar,” he says. The €1 billion ($1.1 billion) programme – which is part of a broader capability enhancement for the Typhoon – is "on track" to launch the next phase, which will require a "significant amount" of flight testing to complete the calibration and integration of the new radar.

Flight trials will kick off using IPA5 – which is running slightly ahead of its German sister aircraft, with the activity to begin this year.

Selex – a member of the Euroradar consortium – is also “well advanced” in its work with Saab to install and test the Raven ES-05 AESA radar on the developmental Gripen E, says Cowdery.

Source: FlightGlobal.com