McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Avionics, AN/APG-63/70 radar

[sferrin]

Not much beyond that. The US had several AESA's in the pipeline around that time. These were in production systems but their official in-service date was tied to aircraft milestones and not their own maturity. I believe the first F-22 fitted with the APG-77 flew around the same time as the F-15's did with their AESA's.

I actually did some digging and antidotally I found APG-63(v)2 is much heavier then any other member of its family, like 400kg. It requires significant weight be added to the back for balance. The software was tailored for finding cruise missiles and normal modes found on other versions of apg-63 weren’t added till around 2005. They would be paired with a normal F-15 for cruise missile hunting. Looking for something official looking that says that now.

I read somewhere it required 600lbs of ballast to be added to the tail.

 

[F-2]

Not much beyond that. The US had several AESA's in the pipeline around that time. These were in production systems but their official in-service date was tied to aircraft milestones and not their own maturity. I believe the first F-22 fitted with the APG-77 flew around the same time as the F-15's did with their AESA's.

I actually did some digging and antidotally I found APG-63(v)2 is much heavier then any other member of its family, like 400kg. It requires significant weight be added to the back for balance. The software was tailored for finding cruise missiles and normal modes found on other versions of apg-63 weren’t added till around 2005. They would be paired with a normal F-15 for cruise missile hunting. Looking for something official looking that says that now.

I read somewhere it required 600lbs of ballast to be added to the tail.

That’s the exact number I got, also I screwed up I think it’s 240 kg more then the 400kg version or something like that. Point is it’s big and heavy.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Hughes AN/APG-63 publication "The Phenomenal APG-63" aka "why aircrew complaints about this radar are bogus". First 10 pages attached, document is 50 pages long.

 

[F-2]

https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp04/mq22118.pdf

Canadian evaluation of apg-63 for maritime patrol aircraft

 

[F-2]

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA319223.pdf

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA347534.pdf

Apg-70 info

 

[F-2]

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Elcwez4uBzM&list=PLfn-N1NOvT9w0-KI9r017OjfCUJ0hmWvj&index=420&t=0s

 

[Mamoran]

head-on detection range as tested on the original 70's APG-63 was 85nm vs. a 6m^2 target (T-33 in case you're wondering, it has that approximate head on RCS).

Do you have this chart? I remember seeing it a while ago but I can"t seem to find it anymore. Had several ranges of detection for the T33s in HPRF and MPRF

 

[F-2]

head-on detection range as tested on the original 70's APG-63 was 85nm vs. a 6m^2 target (T-33 in case you're wondering, it has that approximate head on RCS).

Do you have this chart? I remember seeing it a while ago but I can"t seem to find it anymore. Had several ranges of detection for the T33s in HPRF and MPRF

 

[DSplayer]

I've heard stories that the APG-63 on the F-15As first had teething issues when first introduced. Was this true?

 

[F-2]

I've been looking on the net for some APG-63(V)2 pictures, surprisingly theres only one repeated everyhere , and even more surprisinly , maby its just a light trick , but does the AESA antenna in thst pics seems to be covered whit something ? i meen like a plastic cover of some sort ? the T/R modules appears to be aranged diagonally , but i'm not sure ...are there any clearer pics of the thing out there ?

Thank you very much.

Still looking for more info on (v)2 it’s still a huge mystery. It appears to have come from a classified program. It definitely predates apg-63(v)1 which already had provisions for (v)3. It suspect it might have used the TR modules from the original apg-77 but the manufacturer is Raytheon which wouldn’t make sense. All other American AESA radars are somehow related. With apg-77 informing apg-80, apg-81, and apg-83. Apg-79 is related to apg-63(v)3 apg-82 and apg-84. But (v)2 while informing others seems to have no relation hardware wise. It’s very strange.

 

[F-2]

SETP paper on apg-63(v)2 testing. Not a ton but interesting.

 

[sferrin]

I've been looking on the net for some APG-63(V)2 pictures, surprisingly theres only one repeated everyhere , and even more surprisinly , maby its just a light trick , but does the AESA antenna in thst pics seems to be covered whit something ? i meen like a plastic cover of some sort ? the T/R modules appears to be aranged diagonally , but i'm not sure ...are there any clearer pics of the thing out there ?

Thank you very much.

View attachment 689554

Still looking for more info on (v)2 it’s still a huge mystery. It appears to have come from a classified program. It definitely predates apg-63(v)1 which already had provisions for (v)3. It suspect it might have used the TR modules from the original apg-77 but the manufacturer is Raytheon which wouldn’t make sense. All other American AESA radars are somehow related. With apg-77 informing apg-80, apg-81, and apg-83. Apg-79 is related to apg-63(v)3 apg-82 and apg-84. But (v)2 while informing others seems to have no relation hardware wise. It’s very strange.

Nothing mysterious about it at all. It was all out in the open when it came out. 18 F-15s were equipped as I recall. It was so heavy 600 pounds of ballast had to be added to the rear of the aircraft.

U.S. Fighters Mature With AESA Radars

In the year 2000, the USAF fielded its first modified F-15Cs equipped with APG-63(V)2 AESA radars

defense-update.com

 

[Mamoran]

Is there info regarding the detection performance about the APG-63 besides the 1974 T-33 detection chart?
I can't find it but using the IEEE APG 66 Performance document( apg66 range values) and the APG63 Case Study( apg66 and apg63 ratio), I get a range( HPRF) of 77 Nm for a 1.3m^2 target or 80 Nm for a 2m^2 target(depending on the apg66 value I use), a ~7% difference between them.. This should be for an early 80s PSP APG-63.
With MPRF I have nothing.

(6) The radar has a demonstrated detection range of more than 100 nautical miles (161km) against small sized targets

 

[LukaszK]

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a142071.pdf

An/apg-63 (pre psp) detailed case study.

The above link seems to not work...

Wayback Machine

 

[RedFail1-1]

FRAME STORE PUSH TO ERASE (0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3)...no IDEA...maybe a sort of "memory of traces", sort of blip appears at here then at here, and then here (*---*---*) and this options allow you to see those radar blips sucessions?...any idea?

It controls how long a radar contact stays on the display when not being actively painted by the radar.

 

[Bruno Anthony]

Looks like a gold mine of documents.