The AI.24 ''Foxhunter'' was an aircraft interception (AI) radar carried by the Panavia Tornado ADV

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(known as the Tornado F3 in

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service), which gave it an all-weather, day-and-night, beyond-visual-range engagement capability.

Production

The radar was manufactured by GEC-Marconi subsidiaries and other partners, with major parts from

Ferranti Ferranti International PLC or simply Ferranti was a UK-based electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century, from 1885 until its bankruptcy in 1993. At its peak, Ferranti was a significant player in power grid system ...

. Despite initial problems, (the radar was several years late and 60 per cent over budget) successive upgrades constantly improved the RAF's Tornado F3 fleet.

Development

Much of the radar system and related operational software was developed at the Radar Research Laboratory of GEC-Marconi Elliott Avionic Systems Ltd., initially at the Elliott Automation plant in

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, and latterly (from 1981 to 2004) as Marconi Avionics at the (formerly the Xerox site of a matrix of interconnected grey portacabins and a few factory units) facility on Monks Way, Linford Wood,

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. This site has changed completely in the years since, but there is now a Foxhunter Drive starting where the high security gate was.

History

The radar was flight tested on a

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...

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and first flew in a Tornado F.2 in June 1981.

Contractual relationships

In 1987 GEC argued that the contractual relationships were partly to blame for the delay in the Foxhunter entering service – although GEC was responsible for most of the radar, Ferranti manufactured the antenna platform (the scanner less the antenna) and transmitter and reported to the

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who acted as the prime contactor. A new contract was signed in March 1988 and described as "tight" (i.e. not lenient towards Marconi) by the ''

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''.

Production delays

Production Tornado F.2s had

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ballast in place of the Foxhunter radar, due to the development delays. This ballast became known as the " Blue Circle radar", a play on words from a British brand of cement by the same name, and the Rainbow Codes previously used for British radars. The UK's Tornado F3 fleet were ultimately equipped with "Stage 3 AI.24s".

References

External links

Implementation in the Tornado
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ai.24 Foxhunter Aircraft radars Ferranti General Electric Company Military radars of the United Kingdom Military equipment introduced in the 1980s