Uttam AESA radar is an indigenous AESA radar being developed by the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) of DRDO. The LRDE team has previously developed a larger AESA radar for the Netra AWACS system.
Uttam AESA radar is GaAs (Gallium Arsenide) based. This radar will be integrated with Tejas Mk1A. To be more specific, 21st (out of 83 total aircraft on order) Tejas Mk1A will be equipped with Uttam AESA radar. The fifth-generation fighter AMCA is also planned to be equipped with Uttam AESA radar but it will be GaN (Gallium Nitride) -based. GaN-based radars are more efficient and require less cooling.
Development History
The development of the Uttam AESA radar started in 2012, and a full-scale model of the radar was displayed at Aer India 2017. Two variants of Tejas, LSP-2 and LSP-3 are being tested with Utaam AESA radar along with an executive jet. The radar system has been tested for more than 230 hours which includes more than 30 hours on Tejas.
Specification & Capabilities of Uttam Radar
Uttam AESA radar has advanced capabilities, including Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), electronic and communication support measures, simultaneous multi-target tracking and engaging, etc.
The radar is capable of tracking 100 targets simultaneously and engage 6 of them in high priority mode. In 2015 Uttam was stated to be capable of tracking a target having a RCS of 2m2 at a distance of 92 kilometres. According to new reports, the range has increased to well over 100 kilometres for the target of the same RCS.
TRM* comparison-
Uttam AESA – 736 TR modules
RBE2 of Rafale – 838 – 1100 TR modules (based on the variant)
AN/APG-68 offered on F21 – Around 1000 TR modules
*The number of TRM is not the only measure of the capability of radar, there are several other factors.
Glossary
AESA- Active electronically scanned array radar
TRM- Transmit/receive modules
RCS- Radar Cross Section
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