The U.K.'s New Fighter Jet Has a Radar System That's Just Ridiculous
The U.K. is planning the country’s first exclusive fighter jet in decades: Tempest.
The fighter, destined for deployment in the mid-2030s, will feature a radar capable of recording as much data as the internet traffic of Edinburgh, Scotland every second.
The Multi-Function Radio Frequency System will collect and then analyze radar data, allowing Royal Air Force pilots to detect threats sooner than ever.
The U.K.’s future fighter jet, Tempest, is being designed around a new radar system capable of collecting up to 10,000 times more data than earlier radar systems—then analyzing it aboard the airplane to detect stealthy adversaries.
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The Multi-Function Radio Frequency System (MFRFS) will also include the ability to jam enemy radar systems, blinding them to Tempest and its weapons. Tempest is scheduled to enter service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the mid-2030s.
MFRFS, according to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, is an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. AESA radars are common in advanced fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets, replacing the traditional nose-mounted radar dish with a matrix of hundreds of tiny radar modules. Here’s a good description from the Royal Aeronautical Society:
“[R]ecent years have seen the development of active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars which use a matrix of hundreds of tiny radar modules to ‘steer’ a beam of radio waves in different directions, instead of physically moving the radar antenna to point at a target. Using an AESA radar, the beam can be moved about extremely quickly, allowing the radar to perform multiple tasks simultaneously, such as conducting maritime surveillance at the same time as monitoring weather along an aircraft’s flight path.”
The RAF describes MFRFS as “four times as accurate as existing radars in 1/10th of the package.” The radar is able to collect as much data per second as the city of Edinburgh’s internet traffic. (Edinburgh has a population of 482,000.) Powerful signal processors would then use that radar data to “paint” a picture of the battlefield for the pilot, highlighting friendly and enemy planes, ground targets, air defenses, and other important features.
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In addition to detection, the Tempest fighter will likely also be able to use its radar for electronic attack. Once a mission reserved for special mission aircraft, thanks to AESA radars, modern fighters can often perform their own electronic attack (EA) missions.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for example, can already perform electronic attack missions with its radar, including “false targets, network attack, advanced jamming, and algorithm-packed data streams.” Tempest will likely be able to perform even more sophisticated EA missions with an even more powerful radar system.
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