Bars radar

Bars

Country of origin	Russia
Type	Slotted Planar/PESA
Frequency	X-band

The Bars are a family of Russian (former USSR) all-weather multimode airborne radars developed by the Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design for multi-role combat aircraft such as the Su-27 and the MiG-29.

Description

The Bars was originally an X-band Pulse-Doppler radar developed for the Su-27. In its original N011 form the radar used an electronically scanned slotted planar antenna but with the experience gained from the development of the N007 Zaslon and in an effort to improve performance the antenna design was changed to a multi-channel Passive electronically scanned array (PESA) resulting in the N011M Bars (Snow Leopard). The design of the N011M bars antenna like the earlier N007 antenna consists of two separate electronically controlled arrays, an X-band radar and a L-band transponder with a total weight of 100 kg and a diameter of 960 mm ^[1]. The radar has a peak power output of 4-5 kW ^[2] and is capable of positioning beams in 400 microseconds ^[1], a huge advantage over mechanically scanned radar. The Bars radar can be fixed in position to give a scanning sector of ±70 degrees in azimuth and ±45 degrees in elevation ^[3], the radar can also be mounted on electromechanical drives to improve scan coverage. The N011M supports digital signal processing using 3 processors with 16 MB of both static and flash memory ^[1].

N011M has a search range of 350 km and a tracking range of 200 km, with 60 km in the rear in the air to air mode. Up to 15 air targets can be tracked at once in track-while-scan mode with 4 of these engaged at once.^[4] The N011M can use a number of short range and speed search modes and is capable of identifying the type and number of multiple targets. The Bars radar is compatible with R-77 and R-27 radar guided missiles providing both illumination and data-link guidance as well as the R-73 IR guided missile ^[3].

In the air to surface mode the radar is capable of detecting ground and naval based moving targets, determining their location and maintaining a track on two surface targets at once ^[1]. The N011 is capable of detecting a tank sized target to a range maximum range of 50 km and a destroyer sized target to a range of 150 km ^[1]. Bars also features a mapping mode using either real beam, doppler beam sharpening or Synthetic aperture radar with a maximum resolution of 10 meters ^[1]. The Kh-31 anti-radiation missile is also compatible with the radar ^[3].

Bars-29

The Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design has displayed a modified N011M radar for the MiG-29 designated the Bars-29. The Bars-29 shares up to 90% of its software and hardware with the original Bars radar while being small enough to be installed within the nose of the MiG-29 fighter ^[5]. The Bars-29 has a detection range of 120 km against a target with an RCS of 5 m², 15 targets can be tracked at once when using track-while-scan mode, with 4 engaged at any one time ^[6]. The radar has a peak power output of 1 kW.

See also

• Tikhomirov Scientific Research Institute of Instrument Design
• List of radars

External links

• N11-01M Antenna System at Tikomirov Website

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Tikomirov Website". http://www.niip.info/. 
2. ^ PICTURES & DOCS/Overscan's guide to Russian Military Avionics.htm Russia's Arms 2001-2002. Moscow: Military Parade Ltd.. 2001. http://aerospace.boopidoo.com/philez/Su-15TM PICTURES & DOCS/Overscan's guide to Russian Military Avionics.htm. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Rosoboronexport Catalogue". http://www.rusarm.ru/cataloque/airf0rces_cataloque.html. 
4. ^ http://www.moscowtopnews.com/?area=postView&id=986
5. ^ "Russian Avoinics". http://defblog_ravio.rediffblogs.com/. 
6. ^ "ACIG". http://www.acig.org//.