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The RBE2 (Radar à Balayage Electronique 2 plans) is a multirole
Thales Group: Active Electronically Scanned Array - AESA RBE2 radar
Aircraft radars Military radars of France Thales Group {{radio-comm-stub
The RBE2 (Radar à Balayage Electronique 2 plans) is a multirole radar
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
developed during the 1990s for the Dassault Rafale
The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French Twinjet, twin-engine, Canard (aeronautics), canard delta wing, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft designed and ...
, a French combat aircraft. The original RBE2 is a passive electronically scanned array
A passive electronically scanned array (PESA), also known as passive phased array, is an antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions (that is, a phased array antenna), in which all the ...
. This has since been developed into the RBE2-AA, an active electronically scanned array
An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled antenna array in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the a ...
.
Development
Development of the RBE2 began in 1989 as a joint project between Thomson-CSF's RCM division and Dassault Electronique which merged in 1998 to form Thomson-CSF Detexis. Development was continued by Thomson-CSF's successor company,Thales Group
Thales S.A., Trade name, trading as Thales Group (), is a French multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence industry, defence corporation specializing in electronics. It designs, develops and manufactures a wide variety of aer ...
.
The RBE2 is a passive electronically scanned array
A passive electronically scanned array (PESA), also known as passive phased array, is an antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions (that is, a phased array antenna), in which all the ...
(PESA), an electronically scanned radar with a single transmitter. Flight trials of the RBE2 began in 1992 and the first production radar was delivered in May 1997.
In April 2002, the French defence procurement agency, Délégation Générale pour l'Armement (DGA), awarded Thales Group a contract to develop an active electronically scanned array
An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled antenna array in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the a ...
(AESA) radar demonstrator based on the RBE2 radar. The resulting RBE2-AA (active array) variant has been tested on a Mirage 2000 testbed aircraft from the Flight Test Center of the DGA and then on a Rafale. While the first tests were made with US-made transmitter-receivers, the current radar features parts manufactured by Thales. The radar uses about 838 GaAs T/R modules.
In July 2004, DGA awarded a 90 million-euro contract for the development of a second a AESA radar demonstrator. Production of the RBE2-AA commenced in 2008 and entered service in 2013.
See also
*Optronique secteur frontal
The ''Optronique Secteur Frontal'' (OSF) iterally: Frontal Sector Optronicsis a long-range optoelectronics system, developed for the French Dassault Rafale combat aircraft.
It allows target tracking through IRST (infrared search and track
...
(OSF)
* Euroradar CAPTOR
References
External links
Thales Group: Active Electronically Scanned Array - AESA RBE2 radar
Aircraft radars Military radars of France Thales Group {{radio-comm-stub