Radar Doppler Multitarget (RDY in its French acronym) is a multimode Look-down/shoot-down

Pulse-Doppler radar A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars and ...

Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Hous ...

(now

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

) for the Mirage 2000-5 fighter. The RDY-3 derivative has been fitted to Moroccan Mirage F1s. Thomson has claimed that the original RDY outperformed the AN/APG-66/ 68 of the F-16 and the AN/APG-65 of the F/A-18 Hornet.

Design

The original RDI/ RDM radars on the Mirage 2000 only worked in air-to-air mode. The RDY was designed to add air-to-ground modes, in particular the ability to control Exocet and Kormoran 2 anti-shipping missiles. The system has a flat-plate antenna scanning a 3.5° beam over a 60° cone at powers up to 120 kW. Maximum range is in air-to-air mode and in look-down mode. The RDY can detect 24 targets, track eight of them and engage four targets at a time. The enhanced RDY-2 has a slightly greater range and adds a SAR mode.

History

Development began in 1984, with the first of nine prototypes flying in July 1987 in a Mystère 20, and the first delivery of a production set in December 1994. RDY is the standard fit on the Mirage 2000–5,-5Mk2 (RDY-2) and -9 (RDY-2) aircraft and has been retrofitted aboard 37 French Air Force Mirage 2000Cs (aircraft to Mirage 2000-5F standard; 11 aircraft redelivered during 1998, 22 during 1999), 25 Greek Mirage 2000-5 Mk2 and 62

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

' Mirage 2000EAD/DADs. Other customers for the Mirage 2000-5 include

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

(Mirage 2000-5EDA and -5DDA aircraft) and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(Mirage 2000-5Ei and -5Di aircraft).

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

's fleet will receive RDY-2 under a €1.47bn contract signed in July 2011 to upgrade them to 2000-5 standard. As part of the MF2000 upgrade, 27 Mirage F1 of the

Royal Moroccan Air Force The Royal Moroccan Air Force (; ; ) is the air force of the Moroccan Armed Forces. History The Moroccan air force was formed on 14 May 1956 as the Sherifian Royal Aviation (). Its modern installations and bases were inherited from France (Bass ...

are being fitted with the Thales RC400 (RDY-3 or RDC), a derivative of the RDY with an antenna sized to fit the smaller aircraft.

Specification

*Frequency:8 to 12 GHz *Band: I/J

Notes and references

{{reflist Aircraft radars Military radars of France Post–Cold War military equipment of France

Design

History

Specification

See also

Notes and references