RIAT 2024: BAE Systems announces completion of ECRS Mk2 ground testing on Typhoon

A ground test programme has been completed on a Eurofighter Typhoon test and evaluation aircraft equipped with the European Common Radar System (ECRS) ECRS Mk2 radar ahead of flight testing, BAE Systems announced on 19 July 2024.

The work was carried out by engineers at BAE Systems’ flight test centre in Warton, Lancashire, with support from teams at Leonardo UK, which developed the radar at its Edinburgh and Luton sites. The programme included electromagnetic testing in a unique anechoic chamber.

A Typhoon test aircraft, BS116, has already been prepared by the BAE Systems team at Warton for flight testing of the ECRS Mk2, which the company is touting as potentially the world’s most advanced active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar.

Group Captain Matt D’Aubyn, Royal Air Force Typhoon programme director, said in a BAE Systems press release: “The integration of this new prototype radar into the test aircraft is a positive step in the continued evolution of the Typhoon’s air control capabilities, preserving its sovereign freedom of action and maintaining its technological advantage.”

The development of the radar, under contract to the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Defence Equipment and Support Organisation, “will support RAF operations in the most challenging situations, providing pilots with the ability to suppress enemy air defences using high-power jamming and engage targets beyond threat range,” BAE Systems said.

The UK Ministry of Defence announced in July 2022 that it would invest £2.35 billion (€2.79 billion) to advance the Typhoon’s future capabilities. In addition to developing the ECRS Mk2, this involves work on what is known as the Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) programme: a set of upgrades designed to ensure the aircraft’s new capabilities can be fully exploited. The £2.35 billion investment also includes the serial production of 40 ECRS Mk2 radars for the RAF’s Tier 3 Typhoon fleet.

Meanwhile, it appears that the proposed large display (LAD) for the Typhoon could eventually be incorporated into the P4E programme.

Speaking to reporters at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford on 19 July, Andrew Mallory-Blythe, Typhoon operational requirements manager at BAE Systems’ Air Sector, noted that while P4E has not yet been finalised and the LAD is not currently “on the list” of proposed improvements to be covered by it, its inclusion is now being discussed.

Mallory-Blythe pointed out that equipping the Typhoon with a LAD in place of its current three multifunction displays would allow the ECRS Mk2 radar to be more fully exploited. He added that a LAD fitted to the new Typhoons could also be retrofitted to existing aircraft.