Blue Vixen
.jpg) Blue Vixen radome on the nose of a Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA2 | |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1990s |
| Type | Airborne radar |
| Frequency | I-band |
| PRF | low, medium and high |
Blue Vixen was a British airborne radar designed and built for the Royal Navy by Ferranti Defence Systems (later, GEC-Marconi), Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the primary radar of later models of the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, replacing the Ferranti Blue Fox used on earlier models of the Harrier.
Design and development
[edit]Blue Vixen was a lightweight (145 kg) multimode, coherent, pulse-Doppler I band airborne radar, developed from the previous Ferranti Blue Fox radar, and designed for use on the British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2. It was a multimode radar for airborne interception and air-to-surface strike roles over water and land, with look-down/shoot-down and look-up modes. Designed from the start to have full AIM-120 AMRAAM compatibility, it was also compatible with Sea Eagle and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Development aircraft used
[edit]
Two British Aerospace 125 aircraft were used for the flight trial's program. The first (XW930 serial number 25009) was a Series 1 aircraft which had previously been used by the CAFU (Civil Aviation Flying Unit) before it was absorbed into the Royal Aircraft Establishment. It was equipped with a modified nose and carried out the initial development work. This was joined by the dedicated trials aircraft (a series 600 serial number 256059 registered ZF130), fitted with a replica of the Sea Harrier cockpit at the co-pilot's station as well as a Sidewinder acquisition round on a pylon beneath the starboard wing.
Aircraft fitted to
[edit]British Aerospace Sea Harrier F(A).2
Operators
[edit]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- "Blue Vixen radar (United Kingdom)". Jane's Avionics. Jane's. 7 January 2004. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.