Su-57 the Raptor Spotter _ Part 4 - Radars, ESM, ECM, IFF - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00Hey, in this series we have already analysed the Sukhoi-57 general configuration, the aerodynamic,

00:07the propulsion and the systems.

00:10Now it's time to dig deeper into the sensors.

00:22The Russians divide the sensors into two groups, this SH-121 radio-electronic suite

00:29and the 101KS optoelectronic system.

00:34In this video we are covering the former and be ready for something surprising.

00:46The Sukhoi-57 has been provided with one of the most complex and complete radar suites

00:54in the world.

00:56The system integrator is the Tikhomirov-NEP institute which in 2003 won the competition

01:04for the so-called MIRES.

01:07It actually translates into multifunction integrated electronic system.

01:12It consists of three elements.

01:15The M036 radar built by the NEP itself, the M036 SH-IFF built by GRPZ and finally the

01:28L402 ECM suite built by NERTI.

01:33The SH-121 produces fully correlated tracks that are provided to the IUS, the system that

01:40we have already described, links above and below, and those tracks can be used obviously

01:46for presentation and analysis by the pilot.

01:56The M036 squirrel is composed by five antennas covering the frontal 270 degrees of the plane.

02:07They are controlled by two computers called SOLO 2101 built in Russia by GRPZ.

02:16The system is unique for a fighter since it can operate in X-band and in AL-band with

02:23the computers taking care of the sensor integration.

02:27The central antenna under the radome in the nose is working in X-band and it is an AESA

02:33array composed by 1514 modules.

02:39The antenna is tilted upward by 15 degrees in which is now becoming a sort of a standard

02:45measure to reduce the RCS of the antenna itself.

02:48Two smaller side arrays with 404 elements each are mounted on the side of the cockpit

02:56and they're angled downwards by the usual 15 degrees.

03:01Altogether these three antennas cover the frontal 270 degrees.

03:07The frontal antenna uses vertical polarisation while the side antenna uses horizontal polarisation

03:13to reduce the risk of interference.

03:16The fusion of the information into a single presentation is handled by the computers obviously.

03:21The antennas seem to be a bit bulkier than an equivalent western system but the M036

03:29electronics seems to be actually divided into different black boxes in the frontal

03:35section of the plane.

03:37This is probably more difficult to maintain but definitely easier to fit inside the structure.

03:45Obviously the manufacturer is tight-lipped about the performance but they declare that

03:51the main antenna can output up to 11 kilowatts which is actually respectable.

03:57If this configuration wasn't bizarre enough there are two more radar antennas.

04:02They are installed quite unusually on the wing leading edge.

04:07These are L-band arrays and contrary to what some Indian sources say these are part of

04:14an active radar.

04:16However they have relatively few modules and they cover quite a large frontal arc.

04:23Unfortunately we know very little about the performances and the features for example

04:28frequency agilities, how many beams can be used, scanning patterns and so on.

04:35However it seems only reasonable that the three X-band antennas operate all at the same

04:41time so this makes three beams plus each one of the L-band arrays has its own beam so the

04:49Suhoi 57 in normal conditions should have at least five beams.

04:57The apparently bizarre choice of installing five antennas operating in two different bands

05:04probably make the Suhoi 57 the best equipped aircraft in the world to deal with stealth.

05:12In fact stealth is mostly effective in X-band which is also the most common band for air-to-air radars.

05:21In the L-band the radar absorbing materials are less effective 20 to 30 dB less effective

05:30and while the geometric stealth is still reducing the RCS the small details like all those serrated

05:39panel the fillers between the panels and so on become pretty much irrelevant.

05:46They are just too small compared with the wavelength of the L-band to make any difference.

05:53In fact something which is not really well known by many is that in ground-based L-band

06:00radar but also the longer wavelength radars like UHF or VHF stealth aircraft has always

06:07been visible even at long ranges actually the lower the frequency the longer the wavelength

06:14the longer is the range against stealth aircraft.

06:17L-band radars are usually not installed on fighters because they require large antennas

06:24and very powerful emitter and in fact we see them installed on one of the largest fighters

06:32currently in production with a lot of power generation available.

06:55One might be justified to think that this kind of radars make stealth useless but this is not the case.

07:02In fact the accuracy of a radar is proportional to the frequency and inversely proportional

07:07to the wavelength.

07:08While an X-band radar has an accuracy of the order of tens of meters even at long range

07:15an L-band or lower frequency radar has accuracies that are measured in kilometers.

07:22The track generated by these radars is usually not enough to guide a weapon to the target.

07:31Nonetheless the mere fact that you may have a relatively good location of the stealth

07:39aircraft is quite an important tactical advantage.

07:43In the comments of the previous videos of this series there were plenty plenty of people

08:05telling me that the Su-57 would have been shot down by the F-22 even before knowing

08:12that the F-22 was there.

08:15Well, with the L-band arrays the Su-57 is probably the least likely fighter in the world

08:23that can be surprised by a stealth fighter.

08:27It might still happen but not because of the overwhelming technology, it will happen because

08:33of clever tactics and an intelligent use of operational surprise.

08:42I'm pretty sure the same people will now be telling me that those radars will be blinded

08:58by the incredibly and science fiction-like electronic countermeasure of the F-22 or the

09:05F-35, which is a perfect segue for the next part.

09:12The L-402 electronic intelligence and countermeasure suite is the least known component of the Ace

09:25H-121 and of course these secrets are the most closely guarded because their effect

09:32on the battlefield should we get into a real confrontation could be crucial and could

09:41make the difference between winning and losing.

09:45Actually having a full knowledge of the electronic signature of the L-402 for the opponent is

09:51being halfway there in trying to make it useless.

09:56At the core of the L-402 there is another solo computer version 21.402 designed specifically

10:07for the task.

10:08The computer communicates with the aircraft arrays.

10:12There is a large dedicated array in the tail of the aircraft but the L-402 is also using

10:20the radar arrays so when the radar is not in use the L-402 is using the arrays to monitor

10:26the external environment.

10:28I suspect there is some sort of multiplexing mechanism to share the arrays between the

10:34two systems.

10:35With the AESA arrays it is probably possible to switch very quickly from the radar mode

10:41to the listening mode and vice versa.

10:44What we don't know and what is not clear is where actually the track correlation is going

10:49to happen, either directly in the L-402 or is passed upward to the SH-121 or potentially

10:59even directly to the IUS.

11:01What we know though is that the operating mode is largely automatic.

11:06The L-402 analyzes the threats, prioritizes them and eventually starts jamming them.

11:13I was unable to find if the jamming antennas, jamming devices, are the usual arrays that

11:22in the tail and the five radar arrays or there are some dedicated antennas which may seem

11:28likely, but as I said I didn't find any particular reference about that.

11:35The N036SH-IFF, Identification Front Door 4, actually uses two separate antennas dedicated

11:53for the function installed in the LEVCONS.

11:58This is a development of the system that was used in the Suhoi 35 and it has the advantage

12:05of freeing the radar of doing the IFF task and the system can also be slave to the electro-optical

12:12systems so if the aircraft is staying passive the IFF interrogation before firing can happen

12:19anyway.

12:21The flip side of the coin is obviously that the system is quite large, bulky and heavy

12:28and it is practical only on large aircraft.

12:32One of the traditional problems of integrating Russian hardware into a Western environment

12:38was exactly the IFF or better the IFF compatibility.

12:44However, since this has already happened in three or four cases by now, we may expect

12:51that it's not going to be a big problem anymore.

12:58So, there you have it, these are the electronic sensors on the Suhoi 57, the only aircraft

13:17in the world that has five radars, antennas and maybe six in two different bands.

13:24As a final comment it may be worth noting that these are not the kind of solutions that

13:28you're going to find in the West and that in general Russian electronics tend to be

13:34heavier and bulkier than the Western counterparts but this doesn't necessarily mean that they're

13:41working less effectively.

13:44As usual I hope that presenting the fact that a different world is possible is just making

13:51you think.

13:52So, if you like this video I'm sure you will love the videos that are going to appear beside

13:57me in the meanwhile like, dislike, subscribe and hit the bell so you won't miss anything.

14:03If you could support the channel by becoming a member on Subscribestar, on Patreon, you

14:08will have my gratitude forever.

14:11The meanwhile, thank you very very much for watching and see you next time.

Su-57 the Raptor Spotter _ Part 4 - Radars, ESM, ECM, IFF

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