Ferranti Blue Fox
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__NOTOC__ The Ferranti Blue Fox was a British multi-role
airborne radar Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
designed and built for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
by Ferranti Defence Systems in the late 1970s. It had a mixed record in service, and was replaced by the more capable
Blue Vixen __NOTOC__ Blue Vixen was a British airborne radar designed and built for the Royal Navy by Ferranti Defence Systems (later, GEC-Marconi), Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the primary radar of later models of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, replaci ...
.


Design and development

Blue Fox was developed to a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
requirement for a radar to equip the
British Aerospace Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval STOVL, short take-off and vertical landing/VTOL, vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, Aerial reconnaissance, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier jump je ...
FRS.1. Its primary role would be to detect large targets like maritime reconnaissance aircraft or anti-shipping
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
s flying over the sea. A secondary role was
air-to-surface An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common prop ...
search and strike against shipping. The system was designed within strict limits of size, time and cost. Ferranti developed the system using components of their Ferranti Seaspray radar, used on the
Westland Lynx The Westland Lynx is a British multi-purpose twin-engined military helicopter designed and built by Westland Helicopters at its factory in Yeovil. Originally intended as a utility craft for both civil and naval usage, military interest led t ...
naval helicopter to detect ships. It emerged as a
frequency agile Frequency agility is the ability of a radar system to quickly shift its operating frequency to account for atmospheric effects, jamming, mutual interference with friendly sources, or to make it more difficult to locate the radar broadcaster through ...
I band radar that weighed less than 85 kilograms in total. Three two-seat
Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...
s were also fitted with Blue Fox radars for Royal Navy Sea Harrier pilot training, designated Hunter T.8M.


Service history

The Blue Fox entered operational service with the
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...
in July 1981 when
801 Naval Air Squadron 801 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was a Fleet Air Arm squadron of the Royal Navy formed in 1933 which fought in World War II, the Korean War and the Falklands War. Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air Force The squadron was formed on 3 April 1933 as part ...
, under the command of Commander Nigel "Sharkey" Ward, was commissioned and went to sea aboard HMS ''Invincible''. Previously,
899 Naval Air Squadron 899 Naval Air Squadron (899 NAS) was a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the United Kingdom. It was most recently based at RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron) as the British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2 training squadron until it was decommissioned in March ...
, the Headquarters Training Squadron for the new Sea Harrier and
800 Naval Air Squadron () , colors = , colors_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , battles_label = , decorations = , battle_honours = , battle_honours_label = , flying_hours = , website = , cur ...
, the first operational unit of the type, had initially flown their aircraft without radar fitted. Following the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland Islands in April 1982, the
British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...
dispatched a naval task force to the South Atlantic, including two
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...
s, each carrying a Sea Harrier squadron. 801 Squadron was embarked on HMS ''Invincible'' and 800 Squadron (now with Blue Fox) on the
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
, HMS ''Hermes''. The leadership of 800 Squadron had experienced difficulties with the Blue Fox radar and took the view that it was useless, discounting Ward's claims that the equipment performed better than Ferranti had predicted. A Ferranti engineer joined the task force at
Ascension Islands One of the Southampton Island offshore island groups, the Ascension Islands are uninhabited islands located in Foxe Basin's Foxe Channel, northwest of Caribou Island. They are part of the Kivalliq Region, in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. R ...
, primarily to fix a problem with seawater ingress into the
radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna (radio), antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and ...
, but was also able to retune 800 Squadron's radars. However, by that time, confidence in the equipment had been lost and there remained considerable differences in the way it was utilised between the two squadrons throughout the conflict. In the course of the war, four Argentinian aircraft were destroyed in air-to-air combat using Blue Fox. As was expected, the radar was unable to " look down" over land or rough sea and the other interceptions relied on a combination of ships' radars and visual acquisition. However, in moderate sea states, the Blue Fox was found to be useful in the surface search mode, being able to detect a warship at a range of . On 2 May, a single Sea Harrier was able to detect the Argentinian carrier group as it approached the British task force. The Fleet Air Arm's Sea Harrier FRS1 with Blue Fox began to be phased out in 1989 with the introduction of the FA2 version, which was fitted with the more capable Ferranti
Blue Vixen __NOTOC__ Blue Vixen was a British airborne radar designed and built for the Royal Navy by Ferranti Defence Systems (later, GEC-Marconi), Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the primary radar of later models of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, replaci ...
radar. The remaining FRS1 aircraft were converted to this standard as the FRS2. The
Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
acquired Sea Harriers in three batches, the first in 1983. For the second batch, to be delivered in 1989, the Indians sought a radar with a better "look down" capability, but the successor to the Blue Fox, the Blue Vixen, was still undergoing trials in the United Kingdom and would not be available for export for some years, so Blue Fox was reluctantly accepted. The Indian Sea Harriers were eventually upgraded by the replacement of Blue Fox with the
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i Elta EL/M-2032 radar.


Operators

; *
Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
; *
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...


See also

*
Blue Vixen __NOTOC__ Blue Vixen was a British airborne radar designed and built for the Royal Navy by Ferranti Defence Systems (later, GEC-Marconi), Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the primary radar of later models of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, replaci ...


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * {{refend Aircraft radars Ferranti Military radars of the United Kingdom History of science and technology in the United Kingdom Military equipment introduced in the 1970s