FIAR S.p.A. (Fabbrica Italiana Apparecchiature Radioelettriche) was an Italian

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

and

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 ...

manufacturer; the

Eurofighter The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leo ...

's current radar contains its technology.

History

It was formed on 31 July 1941, as a spin off from

Compagnia Generale di Elettricità The Compagnia Generale di Elettricità S.p.A. (General Electric Power Company) was an Italian joint-stock company founded in 1921 in Milan. The company was widely know in Italy as simple acronym CGE, it was primarily owned and managed by General E ...

(CGE), and also known as CGE-FIAR. It made repeater transmitters for

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

(Radiotelevisione italiana), the national broadcasting company of Italy. In the 1980s it formed the ELIRADAR consortium with SMA ( Stato maggiore dell'Aeronautica Militare). It was a prime contractor for some avionics in the

Panavia Tornado The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (inter ...

; Italy took a 15% share in the Panavia Aircraft project and planned to buy 100 of the aircraft. Up until the late 1980s, it had only produced radars built under licence. The first radar that it developed itself was the Grifo. The company was Italy's leading manufacturer of radar and

infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

technology, notably for the

MIM-23 Hawk The Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK ("Homing all the way killer") is an American medium-range surface-to-air missile. It was designed to be a much more mobile counterpart to the MIM-14 Nike Hercules, trading off range and altitude capability for a much sm ...

missile. It made airborne and

precision approach radar Precision approach radar (PAR) is a type of radar guidance system designed to provide lateral and vertical guidance to an aircraft pilot for landing, until the landing threshold is reached. Controllers monitoring the PAR displays observe each airc ...

Ownership

It was a division of

Alenia Aeronautica Alenia Aeronautica was an Italian aerospace company. Its subsidiaries included Alenia Aermacchi and Alenia Aeronavali. Alenia Aeronautica was also the part-owner of ATR, a joint venture with European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). ...

(

Alenia Difesa Alenia may refer to: Companies * Alenia Aermacchi, an Italian aeronautics company, founded in 2012 * Alenia Aeronautica, a former Italian aeronautics company, founded in 1990 and merged into Alenia Aermacchi * Alenia Marconi Systems Alenia Marc ...

from 1994 to 2001), later bought by Finmeccanica.

Products

Radar systems

* CRESO ground surveillance radar * ECR-90 (

Euroradar CAPTOR The Euroradar Captor is a next-generation mechanical multi-mode pulse Doppler radar designed for the Eurofighter Typhoon. Development of Captor led to the Airborne Multirole Solid State Active Array Radar (AMSAR) project which eventually produ ...

), for the Eurofighter, contains the Grifo technology * ELIRADAR APS-784, equips the

AgustaWestland AW101 The AgustaWestland AW101 is a medium-lift helicopter in military and civil use. First flown in 1987, it was developed by a joint venture between Westland Helicopters in the United Kingdom and Agusta in Italy in response to national requirement ...

EuroFIRST PIRATE The EuroFirst Passive Infrared Airborne Track Equipment (PIRATE) is the Forward looking infrared (FLIR) / Infra-red search and track (IRST) for the Eurofighter Typhoon. It is produced by the EuroFIRST consortium consisting of Leonardo S.p.A. of Ital ...

(Passive Infrared Airborne Tracking Equipment, infrared homing for the Eurofighter) * Grifetto * Grifo (

X band The X band is the designation for a band of 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 rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

) * Pointer * Setter, look down radar (named after the

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

)

Structure

It was headquartered in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

in north-west Italy,Flight International January 1973
/ref> with a factory in

Baranzate Baranzate (Milanese: ), formerly a ''frazione'' of the neighboring comune of Bollate, is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, about northwest of Milan. It was created in 2004 after its ...

near

Bollate Bollate (Milanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northwest of Milan. As of 30 November 2017, it had a population of 36,488. Bollate borders the following muni ...

on the SP 233.

References

{{reflist Italian companies established in 1941 Italian companies disestablished in 2003 Aircraft component manufacturers of Italy Alenia Aeronautica Companies based in Lombardy Defunct manufacturing companies of Italy Electronics companies established in 1941 Electronics companies disestablished in 2003 Radar manufacturers Electronics companies of Italy