José Herculano wrote:

AESA?

Someone needs to write a FAQ for this group, if there isn't one
already...:-(


That's the bells&whistles version of the APG-79 radar, that does everything
from air-to-air to air-to-ground to jamming. Needs the ACS (advanced crew
stations) to be effective.
_____________
José Herculano




And more in general stands for Active Electronically Scanned Array,
which is the name for the type of antenna/emitter group. Instead of a
mechanically swivelling antenna (with complicated waveguides and a heavy
hydraulic system to move it around) this has a flat, fixed array
consisting of multiple emitter/receiver modules. The beam is controlled
electronically and at least in theory such a radar can use multiple
modes simultaneously. In the F/A-18F (with the ACS) this could mean that
for instance the pilot would have an air-to-air mode selected, while the
NFO in the back could be using a ground-mapping mode at the same time.
A small number of USAF F-15Cs (from the 3rd FW in Alaska if I'm not
mistaken) already fly with a radar with such an antenna: a modified
version of the regular APG-63(V)1 (unsurprisingly) called the APG-63(V)2 .
The first F/A-18F fitted with the APG-79 has already undertaken its
first flight.

Regards,
Ralph Savelsberg