Chinese Radar Developments - KLJ series and others

Mike North

New Member
Registered Member
Chinese scientists have made major breakthrough in semiconductor material for AESA radars that will increase the effective power output by whooping 1000 times, and sensitivity by 6000 times.
Military radar output is limited by heat. Electronics get to hot they melt. The real world application of this break through is that you need less power to generate the same radar output. You can make the power supply much smaller and lighter weight. As you are using less power you can make the cooling system smaller and lighter weight. Packing all that stuff in the nose of a fighter jet or missile is super difficult. I believe new technologies like these in the near future are more about smaller and lighter than increases in detection range.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
Military radar output is limited by heat. Electronics get to hot they melt. The real world application of this break through is that you need less power to generate the same radar output. You can make the power supply much smaller and lighter weight. As you are using less power you can make the cooling system smaller and lighter weight. Packing all that stuff in the nose of a fighter jet or missile is super difficult. I believe new technologies like these in the near future are more about smaller and lighter than increases in detection range.

There are many ways to mitigate the heat that is not the problem . The problem is the small and confined space of typical jet fighter where space is premium and divided over fuel and electronic requirement
Heat pipe has been used successfully over the year to act as a heat sink
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I have to disagree with you here increase range of detection and increase sensitivity couple with robustness from interference still the goal of radar development!
Any advance in any one of the area is still welcome
I am not saying this invention will be operational next year but it is a start
 

Mike North

New Member
Registered Member
Thx for replying, I clarify what I'm thinking .
There are many ways to mitigate the heat that is not the problem
Heat pipes simply move the heat from where it is produced to where its cooled. As far a I know cooling is done by evaporating alcohol. The amount of alcohol carried limits the heat that can be produced. The tank of alcohol is always full and I see know way to put a larger tank in the airplane as there is zero free space inside of fighter jets. I read somewhere that the Mig-25's alcohol tank was 500 liters, Almost half a ton. Thats why I think break through s like this are important. As soon as something like this leaves the lab and can be made adding it to present radars results in quite a weight saving.
I have to disagree with you here increase range of detection and increase sensitivity couple with robustness from interference still the goal of radar development!
Any advance in any one of the area is still welcome
From my experiences this is rarely true. Advance in one area creates bottlenecks elsewhere. you have to increase the performance of almost all components to get the advantage you expect One quick example. If you increase the detection range of a radar 50% you increase the area the radar can see by 250%. The electronics analyzing the radar return also need 2.5 times the performance. More computing power needs more electricity and gives more heat and on and on blah blah. Because of these bottlenecks it's the radar designed after the new tech is ready that gets the advantage. As you said not next year. By the time this next gen radar is ready, the next gen stealth and next gen ECM will be ready. Thats why I'm not all over the more range and robustness. What I'm thinking is a lighter weight ,lower maintenance radar would give China an edge in exports as their radars would have an advantage over all others( if its ready soon enough, plenty of tech never gets out of the lab), So we are looking from different places and seeing it differently. We completely agree on goal of radar development however How long it takes is something we must wait and see.
 

Inst

Captain
The sensitivity isn't affected by heat, and if power output can be increased by one thousand times, this can be done as peak power as opposed to sustained power. A single powerful burst would be enough to detect the F-22, with time given for radar cooldowns.

That said, I still don't find Asoka credible, this is one of those things which sound too good to be true, and in practice, will take years to deploy.
 

Blitzo

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He might indeed be unreliable but he give reference so I just translate the reference . It is one thing success in lab environment doesn't automatically translate success in application or real world. It is still a long way to go But that is why they do research.

For along time China play catch up when it come to basic research. The reason is simple she doesn't have the critical mass in manpower or research facility and or funding
But that is change slowly with more manpower(China produce STEM graduate than any other place on earth), Improvement in research facilities in number and qualities, Private company active in defense related industry, improving industrial base capability etc
Facilities(computer , research lab, ) And of course funding to pay all of those

I think the mil sina article is overenthusiastic, whereas the Fudan university article is much more credible but it is a piece of fundamental research rather than product development...

In other words, whatever application this may have in the future, even if it does have an application at all, is likely many years away... and the mil sina article is being far too wild by making it sound like the results of lab experiments are somehow imminently applicable for operational products.


So, interesting, but jumping the gun as well.
 
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FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
New AESA radars
I have see Type 1475 ? J-20 radar have 1856 modules can be reasonnable ?
also
radar for J-16, designation ? 1760 modules ?
radar for J-10C, designation ? 1200 modules ?

If some have more range, targets number, size etc...
 

Quickie

Colonel
The sensitivity isn't affected by heat, and if power output can be increased by one thousand times, this can be done as peak power as opposed to sustained power. A single powerful burst would be enough to detect the F-22, with time given for radar cooldowns.

That said, I still don't find Asoka credible, this is one of those things which sound too good to be true, and in practice, will take years to deploy.

I believe existing radar already employ the single burst mode as a way to manage heating problem in maximizing the max power output .

So, when they say 1000 times more powerful, one expect the comparison to be an apple-to-apple one, i.e. either both single burst mode, or both continuous mode.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
From chinamil

China's new military radar revealed
Source
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By Zhang Yichi and Liu Yang from the Global Times


BEIJING, Nov. 22 (ChinaMil) -- The China Central Television (CCTV) recently broadcast a story introducing the new radars developed by the No.14 Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETGC), which is considered as the birthplace of China's radar industry.

Through the show and the recent public information, we may discover that the radars developed by that institute cover land, sea, air and space platforms.

In terms of functions, the radars include airborne fire control radar, air-based early warning radar, anti-aircraft, anti-missile, gun detection and other fields.

A number of the familiar large equipment and many new models such as Chinese domestic aircraft carriers, new destroyers and anti-stealth radar are inextricably linked with this institute. Some of the exported models also passed real combat tests in foreign countries.

Advanced radar boosts FC-1 Xiaolong’s combat capacity

The show first reported the light active phased array radar used to improve the FC-1 Xiaolong fighter jet. The radar can track multiple batches of maneuvering targets over more than 100 kilometers.

Although CCTV did not disclose the model of the radar, according to the information previously disclosed at the Zhuhai Air Show, this type of airborne radar should be KLJ-7A active phased array fire control radar with a detection range of about 170 kilometers. It is based on KLJ-7 model with active phased array technology.

An anonymous military expert said that with the active phased array technology, the detection range of FC-1 Xiaolong has reached or even exceeded that of the J-11B heavy fighter jet which uses flat-panel crack antenna pulse doppler radar.

The anti-jamming performance and the anti-reconnaissance performance of the new radar are much better compared with that of the mechanical scanning radar on the third-generation fighter jet.

The new radar has similar performance with F-35 strike fighter's radar. FC-1 Xiaolong fighter jet with the new radar may have a certain extent of advantage at mid-range confrontation with the F-16C / D fighting falcon (not equipped with active phased array radar) and even the basic F-15C / D heavy eagle fighter.

The latest models of Chinese fighter jets such as J-20, J-16, J-10 and J-11 series have used the active phased array radar.

Thanks to its larger nose, more transceivers can be installed to improve the detection distance. High-end fighters equipped with these radars are bound to have more new technologies, more modes, and better performance.

Versatile performance

In addition to airborne radar, anti-stealth radar is also an important development in today's radar industry.

The No.14 Research Institute exhibited a series of anti-stealth radars at the Zhuhai Air Show, Paris Airshow and other occasions.

The website of Jane's Information Group reported the institute's multi-type advanced radars on Nov 6, 2017. The SLC-7 radar outperforms the Israeli EL / M-2080S "Green Pine" phased array multipurpose radar.

According to the report, the SLC-7 has a tracking distance of more than 300 kilometers for ballistic target with a radar reflection area of 0.01 square meters.

It also has a detection range of more than 450 kilometers for a target of 0.05 square meters and a maximum tracking height of more than 30,000 meters. Moreover, the radar is highly mobile and can move to new grounds within 15 minutes, said the report.

According to the report, the No.14 Research Institute also launched the YLC-8B mid-and long-range three-coordinate surveillance radar in recent years.

That radar can be maneuvered by road, sea and railway and can be set up by six crew members within 30 minutes. The radar can detect and track traditional multitasking aircrafts at a distance up to 550 kilometers and the tracking distance of targets with a low detect ability is about 350 kilometers, the report showed.

The report claimed that the radar is one of the few radar systems in the world that can continuously track the fifth-generation fighter jets in the West for long distances.

CETGC staff members said during the Paris Air Show that the YLC-8B works in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band and the development focused on the threat of stealth aircraft in modern battlefield. UHF has longer wavelength and it will form diffraction when the wave reaches the stealth aircraft and therefore it helps detect stealth targets, Jane's report said.

In addition, a large number of intelligence radars developed by the institute are for surface-to-air missile forces.

According to the WeChat official account of the No.14 Research Institute, the ground guided missile units used multiple target radar developed by the institute during the "Blue-Shield 2017" exercise held by Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force some time ago.

The radars include an active phased array target indicating radar and a large double-sided passive phased array radar equipped by the HQ-9 anti-aircraft missile unit. The latter is considered a large search radar to help HQ-9 with anti-missile operations.

Capable of land, air and sea operations

A Chinese military expert said that in recent years, the institute has been actively expanding global military and trade market while still meeting the demand of the Chinese PLA.

For example, China has made breakthroughs in this area through the export of early warning aircraft to Pakistan and initiated an innovative military trade model of joint development and joint production. The SLC-2 series of gun detection radar has performed well in actual combat situations.

It is reported that the radar can calculate the artillery coordinates before the enemy artillery shells fall to the ground. This can help destroy the enemy artillery ground. The radar can also calibrate artillery and make artillery more accurate.

During wars with terrorists, a government army in South Asia was harassed by the latter's artillery. Terrorists hid in the forest and fired artillery, making it very difficult for government forces to find out.

After the deployment of China's gun radar and reconnaissance radar systems, the positions of the terrorists were rapidly located, thus the government forces later took control in the battlefield.

The experts said that the No.14 Research Institute made great achievements in the field of ship-borne radar.

The reason why China's type 052C / D destroyers are called "Chinese Shield" is because they are equipped with active phased array radar, which is the "Sea Star" radar developed by the institute. said the expert.

The radar is the world's first practical ship-borne multi-purpose active phased array radar with integrated search, tracking and guidance functions. It is structurally advanced compared with the US SPY-1, and it has laid a solid foundation for the Chinese naval airborne detection capability to catch up with the advanced world level, the expert noted.

The expert also pointed out that the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and the first domestic aircraft carrier are also equipped with "Sea Star" series of radar.

According to foreign media, the large-scale radar on Chinese type 055 destroyers is also likely to be an improved model of "Sea Star."
 
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