The AN/APG-66

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

is an

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

solid state medium range (up to )

pulse-Doppler A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars and ...

planar array radar originally designed by the

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...

(now

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

) for use in early generations of the

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superio ...

. Later F-16 variants use the AN/APG-68 or the AN/APG-83. This radar was employed in all domestic and export versions of the F-16A/B models throughout the production. Subsequent upgrades have been installed in many varying aircraft types including the

U.S. Customs and Border Protection United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security. It is the country's primary border control organization, charged with regulating and facilita ...

's C-550

Cessna Citation The Cessna Citation is a family of business jets manufactured by Cessna that entered service in 1972. In the fifty years following the type's first flight in 1969, more than 7,500 Citations were delivered, forming the largest business jet flee ...

, US Navy

P-3 Orion The Lockheed P-3 Orion is a four-engined, turboprop anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft developed for the United States Navy and introduced in the 1960s. It is based on the L-188 Electra commercial airliner by Lockheed; it is e ...

, and Piper PA-42 Cheyenne II's. In accordance with the

Joint Electronics Type Designation System The Joint Electronics Type Designation System (JETDS), which was previously known as the Joint Army-Navy Nomenclature System (AN System. JAN) and the Joint Communications-Electronics Nomenclature System, is a method developed by the U.S. War Depa ...

(JETDS), the "''AN/APG-66''" designation represents the 66th design of an Army-Navy airborne electronic device for

fire-control A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a Director (military), director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs th ...

equipment. The JETDS system also now is used to name all

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

electronic systems.

Capabilities

Developed from Westinghouse's WX-200 concept radar, the AN/APG-66 was designed for operation with the

AIM-7 Sparrow The AIM-7 Sparrow (Air Intercept Missile) is an American medium-range semi-active radar homing air-to-air missile operated by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and various other air forces and navies. Sp ...

and

AIM-9 Sidewinder The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a short-range air-to-air missile. Entering service with the United States Navy in 1956 and the Air Force in 1964, the AIM-9 is one of the oldest, cheapest, and most successful air-to-air missiles. Its latest variants rema ...

missiles. Operation with

AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) ( ) is an American Beyond-visual-range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance ...

missiles was introduced with a later variant. Production of system components also involved

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The system has 10 operating modes for air-to-air (search and targeting) and air-to-surface operation. Air-to-ground offers ground mapping, doppler beam-sharpening, beacon, and sea modes. It has both "uplook" and "downlook" scanning capabilities. In uplook mode, the radar uses a low

Pulse-Repetition Frequency The pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) is the number of pulses of a repeating signal in a specific time unit. The term is used within a number of technical disciplines, notably radar. In radar, a radio signal of a particular carrier frequency is tu ...

(PRF) for medium- and high-altitude target detection in low clutter, while downlook mode uses medium PRF for target detection in heavy clutter environments. In operation, it also has jamming resistant frequency agility.

Composition

The radar system is composed of six individual

line-replaceable unit A line-replaceable unit (LRU), lower line-replaceable unit (LLRU), line-replaceable component (LRC), or line-replaceable item (LRI) is a modular component of an airplane, ship or spacecraft (or any other manufactured device) that is designed to b ...

s (LRUs). They consist of: * Antenna: A mechanically scanned, slotted planar phased-array antenna with radiating horizontal slots that is 29 inches wide by 19 inches high *

Transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

* Low-Power Radio Frequency (LPRF) unit, with four operating frequencies within the

* Digital Signal Processor * Radar computer * Control panel

Specifications

* Frequency:

X-Band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

* Search cone: 120 degrees × 120 degrees * Azimuth angular coverage: ±10 degrees / ± 30 degrees / ± 60 degrees * Weight: depending on configuration * Volume: depending on configuration

Variants

* AN/APG-66(V)1 – Employed in select P-3C CDU aircraft in support of

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

counter drug operations * AN/APG-66(T47) - Installed in

Cessna OT-47B aircraft * AN/APG-66(V)2 – Upgrade of AN/APG-66(V)1 developed for the F-16A/B Block 15 Mid Life Update (MLU) program. Due to clutter/jamming environment enhancements, detection range increased to . * AN/APG-66(V)2A – AN/APG-66(V)2 with a new combined signal and data processor providing seven times the speed and 20 times the memory of the older radar computer and digital signal processor line replaceable units. Displayed resolution in ground-mapping mode quadrupled, and is reported to be close to that offered by SAR techniques. Used for modernization of F-16A/B fleet of Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands in the mid-1990s. * AN/APG-66(V)3 – APG-66(V)2 but with CW illumination capability, export to Taiwan. * AN/APG-66H – Installed on

British Aerospace Hawk 200 The British Aerospace Hawk 200 is a British single-seat, single-engine, subsonic light multirole fighter designed for air defence, air denial, anti-shipping, interdiction, close air support, and ground attack. Based on the BAE Systems Hawk, H ...

aircraft, smaller antenna and new signal data processor. * AN/APG-66NT – Installed on US Navy T-39N aircraft for instruction of Student Naval Flight Officers. * AN/APG-66NZ – Installed under Project KAHU on the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D und ...

aircraft. * AN/APG-66SR - Extended range radar with a larger aperture antenna * AN/APG-66T – Multi-target

track while scan Track-while-scan (TWS) is a mode of radar operation in which the radar allocates part of its power to tracking a target or targets (up to forty with modern radar) while part of its power is allocated to scanning. It is similar to but functions diff ...

variant.

Capabilities

Composition

Specifications

Variants

References

See also