Grifo 7 fire-control radar

[Pervaiz_K]

From Jane's Radar and Electronic Warfare Systems

Grifo 7 fire-control radar

Type

X-band (8 to 12.5 GHz sub-band) airborne fire-control radar.

Description

The Grifo 7 is an 8 to 12.5 GHz sub-band, pulse compressed airborne fire-control radar that features Hands On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS) control and `full' electronic counter-countermeasures provision. Other system features include a dual-channel receiver, a `fully processed' guard channel and `extensive' built-in test. Grifo 7 offers `super search' and boresight air-to-air combat modes (both of which feature automatic transition to single target tracking) together with air-to-ground ranging.

Status

As of June 2001, Jane's sources were reporting that the Pakistan Avionics and Radar Factory (PA & RF - Kamra, Pakistan) had delivered its first licence-built, production standard Grifo 7 radar for use in Pakistan's F-7PG and ex-Royal Australian Air Force Mirage IIIO upgrade programmes. Here, the intention was to equip 46 F-7PG aircraft with the radar together with approximately 45 Mirage IIIOs. PA & RF is understood to have delivered a prototype pre-production Grifo 7 during October 2000 and as of the given date, to have been offering the radar for Mirage III upgrade programmes `worldwide'.


Specifications

Frequency: 8-12.5 GHz
Dissipation: 850 W
Power: 500 V A/450 W
Cooling: fan
MTBF: >200 h (flight guaranteed)


Contractor

Fabbrica Italiana Apparecchiature Radioelettriche SpA (FIAR - part of Galileo Avionica)
Milan.

[Usman S.]

Operating modes of Grifo-M radar which you guys might find interesting.

Air-to-air

boresight acquisition (air combat)
dual target track
head-up display acquisition (air combat)
range-while-search (adaptive mode)
range-while-search (normal mode)
single target track
situational awareness
slew (air combat)
spot
track-while-scan
velocity search
vertical acquisition (air combat)

Air-to-surface

air-to-ground ranging
Doppler beam-sharpening 1 (8:1)
Doppler beam-sharpening 2 (64:1)
ground moving target indicator
ground/sea moving target track
real beam map
sea (low)
sea (high)
sea (single target track)

Navigation

beacon
terrain avoidance
weather.

[Hasib]

Great information.

PA & RF is understood to have delivered a prototype pre-production Grifo 7 during October 2000 and as of the given date, to have been offering the radar for Mirage III upgrade programmes `worldwide'.

What input did PAF & Pakistan Avionics and Radar Factory had in the designing of the radar? Are we producing/manufacturing all the components for these radars in- country?

Hasib.

[yasser]

Our boys did all the work integrating the Grifo into the Mirage 3/5, this was really FIARS job but we did , hence the delay in getting the radar in service, we sent some officers to Singapore (where they upgraded their F-5's with Grifo) and had to develop the thing into a slightly different radar for our mirages, hence we are the only people with the right grifo/mirage expertise, we need to sell this to other mirage 3/5 users (Brazil, Argintina, Colombia, libya, Egypt etc)

[sikandar]

Do you have any information on the Grifo 2000 radar? How different is it from the Grifo-M and Grifo-7?

Here's an artice on Grifo 2000 but it doesn't tell us much about the radar's capabilities.

Source: http://www.awgnet.com/shownews/02asia1/avion09_3.htm

FIAR's New Grifo 2000 Radar Targets Early F-16s

A large-scale market of possibly a thousand or more early General Dynamics F-16A/Bs is being sought by the FIAR subsidiary of Galileo Avionica with its new Grifo 2000 fire-control radar, on show at Asian Aerospace for the first time. FIAR's new Grifo has been developed from a long line of low-cost high-capability pulse-Doppler Grifo variants since the mid-1980s. Their modular design simplified systems integration, and over 350 Grifos have been sold for retrofit upgrades of such aircraft as Dassault Mirage IIIs, Northrop F-5Es, and Chengdu F-7Ps. They have also been sold for new aircraft installations, as in the Czech air force's Aero L-159.

Grifo 2000 has been specifically designed and tailored to replace the original APG-66 radar in F-16A/Bs, with minimum modifications. This obviates changes in radome shape and size, as well as interfaces, and component stowage space, while incorporating state-of-the-art technologies and performance. Full interchangeability and pin-to-pin compatibility with the APG-66 radar at LRU level is ensured by the Grifo 2000's similar weight, cooling system and cockpit controls.

New features include a powerful 500 watt transmitter to increase detection ranges, four receiver/processor channels, an open architecture 25-mode processor, and high-resolution spotlight synthetic aperture radar. Grifo 2000 also incorporates enhanced air-to-air track-while-scan through 60 degrees each way in azimuth and elevation,, and modern beyond-visual-range AAM capabilities, plus sensor fusion with infra-red search and track systems. It has also been designed with easy transition to an electronic scanning antenna in mind.

Flight development of the Grifo 2000 is planned to start in an F-16 before the year-end, in response to USAF interest in a low-cost high-performance radar to equip its Fighting Falcons for adversary training. Singapore's F-16A/Bs are also an early target for Grifo 2000 marketing, as an option for STAe's Falcon One upgrade proposals, being made jointly with BAE Systems, and exhibited at Asian Aerospace. The related Grifo 7MG is also a candidate to equip the Pakistan air force's new cranked-wing F-7MPs, while FIAR is offering Grifo Super 7 and MK II developments of the same radar to China for possible installation in AF/PLA J-7E, J-8 and J-10 combat aircraft.

By John Fricker

[Sultan]

Just a quick question which aircraft are the PAF going to upgrade/equip with the Grifo M????

[Usman S.]

Just a quick question which aircraft are the PAF going to upgrade/equip with the Grifo M????

About 35 Mirage-III's.

[Najeeb]

Our boys did all the work integrating the Grifo into the Mirage 3/5, this was really FIARS job but we did

Yasser can you provide any links to validate the involvement of PAF engineers in Grifo M integration. Radar is a serious integration specially when your NAU (Navigation and Attack Unit) requires information from radar. This means that the NAU software has to be updated to accept the 1553 messages from the radar. I know that PAF doest not have the facility to modify the NAU as it is part of rose upgrade and is owned and controlled by Sagem. That leaves us with one choice which is installation of Griffo M on mirages. Now installation is completely different from integration. Thats why I am slightly confused by your claim. But may be you are right and I am missing something.
Can you please give me some more details in this regard.