Radar Doppler Multitarget (RDY in its French acronym) is a multimode
Look-down/shoot-down A radar system has look-down/shoot-down capability if it can detect, track and guide a weapon to an air target that (as seen by the radar) is silhouetted against the ground.
Problem and naming
Airborne intercept radar relying exclusively on time ...
Pulse-Doppler radar
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 ...
designed by
Thomson-CSF
Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market.
Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...
(now
Thales
Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded ...
) for the
Mirage 2000
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (' ...
-5 fighter. The RDY-3 derivative has been fitted to Moroccan
Mirage F1
The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family.
During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would ...
's. Thomson has claimed that the original RDY outperformed the
AN/APG-66
The AN/APG-66 radar is a solid state medium range (up to 150 km) pulse-Doppler planar array radar originally designed by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation (now Northrop Grumman) for use in the F-16 Fighting Falcon. This radar was emplo ...
/
68 of the F-16 and the
AN/APG-65 of the F/A-18 Hornet.
Design
The original RDI/
RDM radars on the Mirage 2000 only worked in air-to-air mode.
The RDY was designed to add air-to-ground modes, in particular the ability to control Exocet and
Kormoran 2 anti-shipping missiles.
The system has a flat-plate antenna scanning a 3.5° beam over a 60° cone at powers up to 120 kW.
Maximum range is in air-to-air mode and in look-down mode.
The RDY can detect 24 targets, track eight of them and engage four targets at a time.
The enhanced RDY-2 has a slightly greater range and adds a
SAR mode.
History
Development began in 1984, with the first of nine prototypes flying in July 1987 in a
Mystère 20, and the first delivery of a production set in December 1994.
RDY is the standard fit on the Mirage 2000-5,-5Mk2 (RDY-2) and -9 (RDY-2) aircraft and has been retrofitted aboard 37 French Air Force
Mirage 2000C
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''A ...
s (aircraft to Mirage 2000-5F standard; 11 aircraft redelivered during 1998, 22 during 1999), 25 Greek Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 and 62
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
' Mirage 2000EAD/DADs. Other customers for the Mirage 2000-5 include
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
(Mirage 2000-5EDA and -5DDA aircraft) and
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
(Mirage 2000-5Ei and -5Di aircraft).
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
's fleet will receive RDY-2 under a €1.47bn contract signed in July 2011 to upgrade them to 2000-5 standard.
As part of the MF2000 upgrade, 27
Mirage F1
The Dassault Mirage F1 is a French fighter and attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was developed as a successor to the popular Mirage III family.
During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would ...
of the
Royal Moroccan Air Force
The Royal Moroccan Air Force ( ar, القوات الجوية الملكية; ber, Adwas ujenna ageldan; french: Forces Royales Air) is the air force of the Moroccan Armed Forces.
History
The Moroccan air force was formed on 14 May 1956 as the ...
are being fitted with the Thales RC400 (RDY-3 or RDC), a derivative of the RDY with an antenna sized to fit the smaller aircraft.
Specification
*Frequency:8 to 12 GHz
*Band: I/J
See also
*
RBE2
The RBE2 (Radar à Balayage Electronique 2 plans) is a multirole radar developed during the 1990s for the Dassault Rafale, a French combat aircraft. The original RBE2 is a passive electronically scanned array. This has since been developed into ...
- Radar à Balayage Electronique 2, radar on the Rafale
Notes and references
{{reflist
Aircraft radars
Military radars of France
Post–Cold War military equipment of France