The AN/APG-81 is an

active electronically scanned array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

(AESA)

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

system designed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems for the

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

. The Joint Strike Fighter AN/APG-81 AESA radar is a result of the US government's competition for the world's largest AESA acquisition contract.

Westinghouse Electronic Systems Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (NGES) was a business segment of Northrop Grumman from 1996 to 2015 until a reorganization on January 1, 2016 merged other Northrop Grumman businesses into NGES to form a new segment called Mission Systems. NG ...

(acquired by Northrop Grumman in 1996) and Hughes Aircraft (acquired by Raytheon in 1997) received contracts for the development of the Multifunction Integrated RF System/Multifunction Array (MIRFS/MFA) in February 1996.

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

and Northrop Grumman were selected as the winners of the Joint Strike Fighter competition; The System Development and Demonstration (SDD) contract was announced on 26 October 2001. The AN/APG-81 is a successor radar to the F-22's

AN/APG-77 The AN/APG-77 is a multifunction low probability of intercept radar installed on the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft. The radar was designed and initially built by Westinghouse and Texas Instruments, and production continued with their respective s ...

. Over three thousand AN/APG-81 AESA radars are expected to be ordered for the F-35, with production to run beyond 2035, and including large quantities of international orders. Capabilities of the AN/APG-81 include the

's air-to-air modes, plus advanced air-to-ground modes, including high resolution mapping, multiple ground moving target indication and track, combat identification,

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

, and

ultra high bandwidth adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. ' ...

communications. The current F-22 production radar is the APG-77v1, which draws heavily on APG-81 hardware and software for its advanced air-to-ground capabilities. In August 2005, the APG-81 radar was flown for the first time aboard Northrop Grumman's BAC 1–11 test aircraft. The radar system had accumulated over 300 flight hours by 2010. The first radar flight on Lockheed Martin's CATBird avionics test-bed occurred in November 2008. In June 2009, the F-35s APG-81 active electronically scanned array radar was integrated in the Northern Edge 2009 large-scale military exercise when it was mounted on the front of a Northrop Grumman test aircraft. The test events "validated years of laboratory testing versus a wide array of threat systems, showcasing the extremely robust electronic warfare capabilities of the world's most advanced fighter

fire-control radar A fire-control radar (FCR) is a radar that is designed specifically to provide information (mainly target azimuth, elevation, range and range rate) to a fire-control system in order to direct weapons such that they hit a target. They are sometim ...

."Branch, Ricardo, Army Sgt
"Northern Edge fields new radar system."
''Northern Edge Joint Information Bureau,'' 8 March 2012. Announced on 22 June 2010: The radar met and exceeded its performance objectives successfully tracking long-range targets as part of the first mission systems test flights of the F-35 Lightning II BF-4 aircraft. The AN/APG-81 team won the 2010 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award for performance against jammers. In January 2023 it was reported that the AN/APG-81 would be replaced by a new radar, the AN/APG-85 on Block 4 F-35s. The AN/APG-85 had been mentioned in a budgetary document in December 2022.

References

External links

Northrop Grumman YouTube channel's "APG-81 AESA Radar for the F-35 JSF" video
{{DEFAULTSORT:AN APG-81 Aircraft radars Military radars of the United States Military electronics of the United States Northrop Grumman radars Radars of the United States Air Force Military equipment introduced in the 2000s