Source: Defense-Aerospace.com; posted July 02, 2020
By Giovanni de Briganti
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Germany and Spain decided to jointly fund the development and retrofit of a new radar, provisionally dubbed E-Scan Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk. 1, for their own Eurofighters because their operational requirements differ from those of Italy and the United Kingdom, the other two partners in the Eurofighter consortium.
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The German Ministry of Defence announced June 8 that the “Bundeswehr is authorized to conclude four contracts with a total volume of around 2.8 billion euros for new radar technology for the Eurofighter.”
The statement added that these funds will pay to pay for the procurement of “the most modern AESA electronically-scanned radars, including multi-channel receivers to exploit the performance potential of this future-oriented technology, are to be developed and integrated into the Eurofighter.”
“The procurement of the already developed radar hardware should run parallel to the development of the final software. In the middle of the 2020s, the new radar system should then be available with full capabilities,” German MoD said.
The resulting ECRS Mk 1 radar “will then have improved detection and identification options with higher immunity to interference… an important contribution to the capabilities and survivability of the Eurofighter.”
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“Hensoldt and Indra have closed a cooperation agreement to jointly develop and produce the ECRS Mk 1 in a consortium. The subcontract went from Airbus to Hensoldt as the consortium lead, with a significant portion passed on directly to Indra,” which is not a subcontractor but a full partner, the Hensoldt spokesman said.
The original contract for 115 E-SCAN radars was announced by Airbus on June 25. This work was then subcontracted by Airbus to Hensoldt, the leader of a separate consortium with Spain’s Indra.
Eurofighter GmbH, the industry consortium which is nominally the program’s main contractor, announced July 1 having signed the ESCAN radar contract with NETMA. In its press release, company CEO Herman Claesen said “we are again demonstrating our collective commitment towards the continued development of Eurofighter Typhoon operational capability,” which is clearly not the case as only Germany and Spain are buying AESA radars.
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Hensoldt’s contracts include equipping about 130 Eurofighter aircraft of Tranches two and three. The development is being carried out by a Spanish-German industrial consortium under German leadership with the support of the Eurofighter nations Great Britain and Italy, the company said in its July 1 press release.
The difference between the 115 radars mentioned by Airbus and the 130 mentioned by Helsoldt is due to a change in the timing of the Spanish procurement. Spain has up to now ordered the first five Mk 1 radars, and plans to order another 17 in 2021, for a total of 22, an Airbus spokesman said July 2.
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A destacar el último párrafo, firmamos 5 radares este año y presumiblemente 17 el que viene para un total de 22.
Primer "Elephant walk" de los italianos: https://theaviationist.com/2020/07/02/e ... e-typhoon/
11 Typhoons taxi on the runway at Gioia del Colle Air Base, in southeastern Italy. (Image credit: 36° Stormo/ItAF).
Sobre los austríacos, parece que ahora dicen en un estudio ("informe Kunasek") que cambiar de caza a otro más económico no les supone ningún ahorro, tal y como decían en 2018: https://orf.at/stories/3171988/