PLA AEW&C, SIGINT, EW and MPA thread

Figaro

Figaro

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KJ-200A 30672 in exercises with PAF
pMGnfnl.jpg
 
T

Totoro

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antiterror13 said:
What are the major improvements over old KJ-200 ?
Click to expand...
This is just a list of guesses:

Radar coverage around the plane is total, 360 degrees. Similar AESA array to KJ200 on Erieye can cover 300 degrees (and probably the resolution quality at very extreme angles is lacking)

Erieye radar array is, interestingly, rather large. It works in same S band as E3, for example but is larger. It'd mean it should be superior. (Also it may feature newer electronics. It's already active,compared to passive one on E3) KJ200 array is some 20-25% larger in all dimensions than erieye array. While possible that it means it works in a different band, (E2 array for example works in the low UHF band while being even smaller) - say L band, that would have own drawbacks. Lower power needed, possibly better against stealthy targets - but also worse at identification as it lacks some precision.

KJ200 array, with its larger size, could therefore be just a tad lower frequency, while still being S band, or it could be of same frequency but then larger array is there to provide extra precision.

KJ500 arays are smaller. So maybe its frequency is even higher. Possibly C band? Though it's still more probable they stuck with S band and simply decided newer processing was enough to compensate for loss of array aperture that usually worsens precision.

KJ500 also has many other smaller arrays, compared to KJ200, positioned around the plane (tail, wingtips etc). It can probably double as an ELINT platform much better than KJ500 could. It also has a satcom antenna, which wasn't evident on KJ200, so it has more options for sharing comms and data.
 
Blitzo

Blitzo

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Totoro said:
This is just a list of guesses:

Radar coverage around the plane is total, 360 degrees. Similar AESA array to KJ200 on Erieye can cover 300 degrees (and probably the resolution quality at very extreme angles is lacking)

Erieye radar array is, interestingly, rather large. It works in same S band as E3, for example but is larger. It'd mean it should be superior. (Also it may feature newer electronics. It's already active,compared to passive one on E3) KJ200 array is some 20-25% larger in all dimensions than erieye array. While possible that it means it works in a different band, (E2 array for example works in the low UHF band while being even smaller) - say L band, that would have own drawbacks. Lower power needed, possibly better against stealthy targets - but also worse at identification as it lacks some precision.

KJ200 array, with its larger size, could therefore be just a tad lower frequency, while still being S band, or it could be of same frequency but then larger array is there to provide extra precision.

KJ500 arays are smaller. So maybe its frequency is even higher. Possibly C band? Though it's still more probable they stuck with S band and simply decided newer processing was enough to compensate for loss of array aperture that usually worsens precision.

KJ500 also has many other smaller arrays, compared to KJ200, positioned around the plane (tail, wingtips etc). It can probably double as an ELINT platform much better than KJ500 could. It also has a satcom antenna, which wasn't evident on KJ200, so it has more options for sharing comms and data.
Click to expand...

I don't think there's a reason to suspect whether the size of an AEW&C's array necessarily corresponds to which band it operates on.

The E-2D's array I think is smaller than that of Erieye yet it operates in the UHF band.


And I also wouldn't necessarily speculate too much on whether a radar being active or passive inherently confers an advantage to one or the other, as things like software upgrades, hardware upgrades, and overall maturity of different systems will tip the balance in one's favour vs the other.
 
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