BAE progresses E-Scan for UK Typhoons with first radar installation

The first ECRS Mk 2 E-Scan radar has now been fitted aboard Eurofighter test aircraft ZK355/BS116 ahead of flight trials scheduled to begin later in 2024. (BAE Systems)

BAE Systems and its programme partners have progressed with the integration of European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk 2) electronically scanned (E-Scan) radar for the UK, fitting the first radar aboard a Eurofighter Typhoon test aircraft.

BAE Systems announced the milestone on 17 January, saying Typhoon aircraft ZK355/BS116 received the Leonardo UK-developed radar at the prime contractor's Warton site in northern England. “The radar will now undergo further integration work inside our Typhoon final assembly hangar at Warton, with plans to flight test it this year,” BAE Systems said.

News of the development came six months after the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded BAE Systems in July 2023 a GBP870 million (USD1.1 billion at the time) contract for further development and integration of the ECRS Mk 2 for the Royal Air Force's (RAF's) fleet of Typhoon combat aircraft.

This five-year award is geared at taking the radar from development to a production standard, and covers 12 radar sets in addition to the prototype set delivered for testing in April 2023. With ZK355/BS116 the first to be fitted and flown, further aircraft will be added to the flight-test programme as it progresses.

This present award will be followed in 2025 with a series-production contract to cover the 40 radar sets to equip the RAF's Tranche 3 fleet of jets, and at about the same time by a further contract for the Phase 4 Enhancement (P4E) configuration that will include radar integration.