Chengdu J-10 "Vigorous Dragon" fighter

[siegecrossbow]

J-10CE closeups at Zhuhai Airshow 2024.

 

[F-2]

Wow! And the Radome is off? Any shot of the radar?

 

[siegecrossbow]

New mounting scheme that allows for a maximum of six PL-15/PL-12s attached.

There is also credible rumor that Egypt has made a commitment. We’ll see.

 

[snne]

 

[F-2]

Wow! So that’s what it looks like relative to the J-10B radar. Amazing

 

[FighterJock]

So why is the radar canted up at an angle like that? Any ideas? I have been wondering about this for years in regards to AESA radars in general.

 

[F-2]

So why is the radar canted up at an angle like that? Any ideas? I have been wondering about this for years in regards to AESA radars in general.

Greatly reduces RCS. If it’s not canted and the Radome isn’t bandpass it is very reflective for enemy radar.

 

[FighterJock]

Did not realise that a canted AESA radar helps with Radar Cross Section reduction F-2, thanks.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Did not realise that a canted AESA radar helps with Radar Cross Section reduction F-2, thanks.

There are actually two ways to reduce frontal RCS contributed by radar. First is by canting the radar like they do in J-10C. Second is through material composition of the radome, which is impermeable to electromagnetic radiation exception for the narrow band of spectrum used by the fighter’s radar. The second approach is supposedly used for Rafale. A combination of both approaches used in most fifth generation fighter aircraft.

 

[Scorpion82]

There are actually two ways to reduce frontal RCS contributed by radar. First is by canting the radar like they do in J-10C. Second is through material composition of the radome, which is impermeable to electromagnetic radiation exception for the narrow band of spectrum used by the fighter’s radar. The second approach is supposedly used for Rafale. A combination of both approaches used in most fifth generation fighter aircraft.

Frequency Selective (GRFP) material layers aren't that new and used on a number of radars. Problem is that within the frequency bandwidth they are transparent and the question is, how narrow the bandpass transparency actually is. Against enemy fighters which are virtually all using X-band systems there might not be much of an "protection". Against non-X band emitters used by mostly ground based threats it works, but here it is somewhat less problematic due to the angular offset.