Euroradar CAPTOR

The Euroradar CAPTOR (formerly ECR-90) is a next generation mechanical multi-mode pulse doppler radar designed for the Eurofighter Typhoon.

The radar is produced by the Euroradar consortium and is a development of the BAE Systems Blue Vixen radar which had been developed for the BAE Sea Harrier FA2. Euroradar is led by the lead stakeholder SELEX Galileo in Edinburgh (formerly BAE Systems Avionics) and the consortium includes EADS and Indra. The ECR-90 was renamed CAPTOR when the project passed the production contract milestone.

Development
The selection of the radar had become a major stumbling block in the EFA project (as the Eurofighter Typhoon was known as the time). Britain, Italy and Spain supported the Ferranti-led ECR-90, while West Germany preferred the APG-65 based MSD2000 which was a collaboration between Hughes, AEG and GEC. An agreement was reached after the British Defence Secretary Tom King assured his West German counterpart Gerhard Stoltenberg that the British government would underwrite the project and allow GEC to acquire Ferranti Defence Systems from its troubled parent. Hughes sued GEC for $600 million for its role in the selection of the EFA and alleged that it used Hughes technology in the ECR-90 when it took over Ferranti. It later dropped this allegation and was awarded $23 million, the court judged that the MSD-2000 "had a real or substantial chance of succeeding had GEC not tortuously intervened... and had the companies, which were bound by the Collaboration Agreement, faithfully and diligently performed their continuing obligations thereunder to press and promote the case for MSD-2000."

The CAPTOR radar, entering service now with the Eurofighter partner nations, will see action for at least two decades. However, work is already under way on its replacement. The Airborne Multirole Solid State Active Array Radar (AMSAR) another European collaborative project, is produced by the British/French/German GTDAR ("GEC-Thomson-DASA Airborne Radar") consortium. This organisation is now made up of SELEX, EADS and Thales. It is possible the radar will be ready for the Tranche 3 Typhoons or, failing that, may be incorporated in a future mid life update (MLU.)

AESA variant
In May 2007, Eurofighter Development Aircraft 5 made the first flight with the a prototype of the CAPTOR-E Active Electronically Scanned Array radar known as CAESAR (from CAPTOR Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar). The CAPTOR-E is based on the CAPTOR radar currently in service on Eurofighter production aircraft. The new generation of radar is intended to replace the mechanically steered antennas and high-power transmitters used on current Eurofighter aircraft with an electronically steered array This enables new mission capabilities for combat aircraft such as simultaneous radar functionalities, air surveillance, air-to-ground and weapon control. The new radar improves the effective air-to-air missile range of the aircraft and allows for faster and more accurate detection and tracking of multiple aircraft with lower life cycle costs. In July 2010, it was reported that the Euroradar consortium made a formal offer to provide an AESA solution for the Eurofighter. The consortium plans to retain as much "back-end" equipment as possible while developing the new radar and also stated that the inclusion of an AESA radar was an important in securing orders from foreign nations.