Thales, a French multinational that makes aerospace and defence equipment, has flight-tested an active array radar built specifically for Tejas, the indigenously built light combat aircraft.
The radar is based on the company’s successful RBE2 radar installed on Rafale fighter jets, 36 of which India is buying from Dassault. It meets the specific requirements of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. to equip the 80 Tejas-Mk1A aircraft under development.
“In just four months, thanks to our solid, proven experience with the RBE2, we’ve been able to carry out successful flights to test the performance of the key features of the radar we’re offering for the Tejas Mk1A light fighter,” Philippe Duhamel, executive vice-president, Defence Mission Systems, Thales, said in a statement on Monday.
The tests were conducted during summer this year at the Cazaux air base in France, on a test-bench aircraft, focussed on metrological analyses of the radar performance, Thales said.
“These test flights proved that the radar is fully operational and perfectly corresponds to the specific requirements of the HAL for its combat and air-superiority missions. It is therefore ready and able to adapt to the tight schedule imposed by the Mk1A LCA,” the statement said.
A Tejas Mk-1A variant with specific improvements is under development and HAL had earlier this year floated a tender for Advanced Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar and Self-Protection Jammer.
The Defence Ministry has already approved 83 Mk1A for the Air Force, in addition to the 40 basic variants.
