A New Radar Will Be Installed On The F-35 Lightning II

As part of the upcoming upgrades, the F-35 Lightning II stealth aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps will receive a brand-new radar system named the AN/APG-85. The improvements might be finished by the end of this decade.

The AN/APG-85 radar was briefly mentioned last year but, strangely, went unnoticed for the majority of the year since it was thought to be a typo. When the U.S. Air Force addressed the radar nomenclature in its presentation of its unfunded priority list (UPL) last month, it started to circulate once more.

What's new?

AN/APG-81, a solid-state active electronically scanned array, is the name of the F-35's radar arrangement at the moment (AESA). The radar, made by Northrop Grumman, is the replacement for the AN/APG-77, which was contracted out in 2001 and can be seen on F-22s.

The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are jointly developing and integrating an advanced radar for the F-35 Lightning II, which is capable of defeating current and projected adversarial air and surface threats. This advanced radar will be compatible with all variants of the F-35 aircraft.-the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO)

A Lockheed Martin Presentation describing the functionality of the AN/APG-81, the F-35's existing radar | Lockheed Martin

Over the next few years, all three F-35 A/B/C variants will undergo a significant modernization effort, including what we now know to be its new AN/APG-85 radar. Some of these upgrades, known as Block 4 upgrades, are still under wraps, but others are at least publicly known to have included a significant upgrade to the jet's Distributed Aperture System (DAS) and Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS), the integration of a number of new weapons like the GBU-53/B StormBreaker precision-guided bomb, and significant improvements to the aircraft's electronic warfare suite. These are just a few of the known improvements; further changes, such as airframe modifications and stealth coatings, could possibly be made.

Cockpit of a Lockheed Martin F35 Lightning II stealth fighter | Representative | Reddit

The F-35's central CPU, memory unit, and panoramic cockpit display system must be updated before any of these modifications can be implemented. This project, designated Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) by the Defense Department, aims to replace the jet's TR-2 computing system with one that can handle all of the new hardware and software that will be incorporated under Block 4.

Although the technology may seem dated, it is anticipated to be the standard fitment for the F-35s long until 2035, according to Northrop Grumman's website. Since other nations like the United Kingdom, Europe, and Southeast Asia also purchase F-35s, it is possible that the United States will transition to an improved radar for its F-35s.

We just don't know what the AN/APG-85 will add to the table compared to its predecessor. But since the F-35 was created, AESA technology has undergone tremendous advancement. The F-35's radar range and resolution could be much improved, and a major component of this enhancement is extremely likely to be a system based on gallium nitride (GaN). Another important aspect would likely be the radar's capacity to enable more dynamic electronic warfare techniques.

The U.S. military is keeping its intentions under wraps since the enhanced capabilities of Block 4 upgrades and the new radar's capabilities are yet unknown. Before we hear anything new about the AN/APG-85 radar, it might be a few years.

SOURCE: interestingengineering.com | drive.com (warzone)

COVER: CNBC

A Go First plane which was Delhi-bound reportedly left the Bengaluru airport without any of its nearly 50 passengers. The passengers were left waiting in a shuttle bus for boarding. The aviation regulator DGCA has sought a report from the airline on the incident.

The airport officials and staff later issued all the passengers fresh boarding passes. The passengers were accommodated on a flight which left Bengaluru at 10 am on Monday.

Some passengers alleged on social media that a busload of passengers were not taken onboard the Go First flight from Bengaluru to Delhi. Flight G8 116 departed at 6.40 am on Monday, January 9 leaving behind the passengers, they alleged. Go First declined to comment on the incident.

Go First plane left Bengaluru airport without any of its nearly 50 passengers; DGCA seeks report

However, in response to one of the tweets, the airline urged the users to share their details and said: "We regret the inconvenience caused". "Flight G8 116 (BLR-DEL) flew leaving passengers on the ground! More than 50 passengers on 1 bus were left on the ground & the flight took off with just passengers of 1 bus on board. Is @GoFirstairways @JM_Scindia @PMOIndia operating in sleep? No Basic checks!" said a tweet from a passenger named Satish Kumar.

Another passenger Shreya Sinha too complained on Twitter, saying, "most horrifying experience with @GoFirstairways 5:35 am Boarded the bus for aircraft 6:30 am Still in bus stuffed with over 50 passengers, the driver stopped the bus after being forced. Flight G8 116 takes off, leaving 50+ passengers. Heights of negligence! @DGCAIndia".

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, "We have sought a report from the airline and appropriate action shall be taken afterwards".

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The National Security Guard (NSG) found nothing suspicious onboard the Moscow-Goa chartered flight, which was diverted to Gujarat's Jamnagar after Goa ATC followed an alleged bomb threat, Jamnagar Airport director informed on Tuesday, January 10.

According to the airport director, the flight will depart from Jamnagar to Goa between 10.30 am and 11 am. Meanwhile, security forces carried out an intensive search of the passengers onboard the Moscow-Goa chartered flight.

"NSG has not found anything suspicious. The flight is expected to leave from Jamnagar to Goa, sometime between 10.30 am and 11 am. All the cabin baggage has been thoroughly checked," said Jamnagar Airport Director.

The Goa-bound international flight was diverted to Jamnagar, Gujarat on Monday, January 9 evening after the crew received clearance for an emergency landing at Jamnagar airport in the wake of an alleged bomb threat, informed airport authorities.

The Goa Air Traffic Control had received an email claiming a bomb threat onboard the international flight. A bomb squad, as well as fire brigade teams, had rushed to the spot. Apart from this, CISF officials, as well as the collector and superintendent of police, also reached the airport.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Vasco Salim Shaikh, said that precautionary measures are being taken, and a special force has been deployed at the airport to monitor the movement of people and track any suspicious activity.

Earlier, the security agencies cordoned off the airport for 9 hours. A total of 236 passengers and eight crew members were on the flight. They said all passengers were safely evacuated and escorted to the lounge inside the terminal building.

The Russian Embassy issued a statement saying they were alerted by the Indian authorities about the alleged bomb scare on the Azur Air flight en route from Moscow to Goa.

"The Embassy was alerted by Indian authorities about an alleged bomb scare on Azur Air flight from Moscow to Goa. The aircraft made an emergency landing at Jamnagar Indian Air Force Base. Everyone on board is safe; authorities inspecting the aircraft," said the Russian Embassy in a statement.

Jamnagar District Collector Saurabh Parghi told ANI, "An intensive search was carried out by security agencies from 9.50 pm (on Monday) till the morning hours." He said security agencies were also verifying the passenger details. Checking is done through routine scanning of passengers. Non-stop work has been on for nine hours. The baggage was checked and details verified, he said.

"We received information about a bomb threat in the Moscow-Goa flight, which was diverted. The flight had 236 passengers and 8 crew members. All passengers were escorted out safely and are in the airport lounge. Bomb detection and disposal work are underway," the Jamnagar district collector had said earlier.

As IndiGo has expanded its fleet to 300 aircraft, the country's airlines' fleet is likely to add over 100 aircraft every year in the next few years as per the expected growth in the aviation sector.

Civil Aviation Ministry officials said that there were about 400 aircraft in 2013 and in 2021-22, the number increased to 700. Airlines in India are going to add 15% capacity or 100 to 110 aircraft per year and the aviation sector is looking at close to 1,200 aircraft by 2027.

Officials said that expansion of the fleet size of an airline is a commercial decision and therefore each airline decides induction of aircraft keeping in view commercial viability, traffic demand and its business plan.

Barring the Covid period, aviation traffic has witnessed consistent growth. The all-India passenger growth as projected by the Airports Authority of India for the next few years is 371 million passengers in 2023-24 and 412 million in 2024-25.

Similarly, airport infrastructure has also recorded corresponding growth in the last few years. Officials said that the total number of airports has nearly doubled from 74 in 2014 to over 141 in 2022.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated the Mopa International Airport in Goa for which the foundation stone was laid in November 2016. Developed at a cost of around INR 2,870 crore, the airport has been built on the theme of sustainable infrastructure. Before this, Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar, the first Greenfield Airport of Arunachal Pradesh, was inaugurated in November 2022.

Keeping in view the growth in aviation traffic, the government has accorded in-principle approval for setting up 21 Greenfield Airports across the country.

These 21 airports include Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Kalaburagi, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Dabra (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, Kushinagar and Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh, Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat, Karaikal in Puducherry, Dagadarthi, Bhogapuram and Oravakal (Kurnool) in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in West Bengal, Pakyong in Sikkim, Kannur in Kerala and Donyi Polo, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh.

Out of these, many Greenfield airports including Durgapur, Shirdi, Kannur, Pakyong, Kalaburagi, Orvakal (Kurnool), Sindhudurg, Kushinagar and Donyi Polo, Itanagar and Mopa have been operationalised.

In keeping with the growth in aircraft and passenger traffic, the aviation regulator has issued nearly 1100 commercial pilot licenses in 2022 as against 862 licenses in 2021. Officials said that there are 34 DGCA-approved Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) operating at 52 bases in the country. Of these, IGRUA at Amethi (UP) is under the Central government, eight are under state governments and 25 are in the private sector.

Officials said that the government has been promoting and facilitating the manufacturing of aircraft, including a Regional Transport Aircraft, and associated equipment by public and private enterprises in India.

ALSO READ - HAL Hindustan 228-201 aircraft is now DGCA Type Certified

Hindustan-228 (Upgraded) civil aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is a 19-seater turboprop aircraft suitable for regional connectivity. HAL has also signed an MoU with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) - National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) for the Design, Development and Certification of a 19-seater Light Transport Aircraft - SARAS MKII and subsequent production, marketing and lifestyle maintenance of the aircraft.

The Indian skies may soon see a new airline taking off. Fly91 will be promoted by aviation veteran Manoj Chacko and cofounded by Harsha Raghavan, former India head of Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings.

Chacko was the executive vice president of Kingfisher Airlines and chief operating officer and CEO of business travel, SOTC. Harsha was the founding managing director and former CEO of Fairbridge Capital, a wholly-owned India investment subsidiary of Fairfax Financial Holdings.

“We have to remember two critical aspects. The first is that we are fundamentally in the transportation industry and our key focus is to ensure that we transport people from point A to B safely, comfortably and in the most economical way. The second one is to keep things brutally simple and stick to the basics and do them extremely well and not try to reinvent the wheel where not necessary.”

Manoj Chacko, Co-Founder, Fly91

Just UDO, the owner of Fly91 (91 for India’s country code), has been set up by Chacko, along with a co-founding team, according to a report by the Economic Times.

Raghavan will co-found the airline through his investment firm Convergent Finance to anchor Fly91’s initial investment of INR 200 crore, as per the report. The promoter company, Just UDO, had last week applied for the initial no-objection certificate (NOC) with the civil aviation ministry.

Fly91 will operate a fleet of leased 70-seater ATR 72-600 turboprop jets.

The airline would be based in Goa. Fly91 will operate a fleet of leased 70-seater ATR 72-600 turboprop jets. The company is in the advanced stages of discussions with plane leasing companies. The airline aims to start operations in September with two aircraft, scale it up to six in the first year of operations and 32 planes in five years.

Fly91 will operate in the short-haul segment – flights of 45 to 90 minutes duration. The airline will be based in its Goa hub and aim to connect underserved airports (from where 30% of India’s domestic traffic originates) as per the Centre’s Regional Connectivity scheme.

(With Inputs from The Economic Times)

All passes issued to employees and visitors of airports across the country have been withdrawn by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) after it was found that a "distorted" map of India was printed on them, officials said.

Map images of Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeastern region, Rajasthan and Gujarat were wrongly depicted in the passes issued at all Airports Authority of India operated airports and six Adani group-run airports -- Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and Mangaluru. After it was found that the images were "distorted", the BCAS has withdrawn the passes, an official privy to the development said.

In a communication to the chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the BCAS said the embedded hologram roll being used is not according to the sample hologram approved by the BCAS.

"Keeping in view the seriousness of the issue, it is hereby directed that all Aerodrome Entry Permits (AEPs) issued with holograms shall be withdrawn and further printing with these hologram rolls shall be stopped with immediate effect," the letter said.

The BCAS also conveyed that the AAI will conduct an inquiry into the matter, find out at which level the lapses occurred, who is responsible for procuring these hologram rolls and take appropriate action against the responsible officers. The AAI has been directed to submit an action-taken report on the issue to the BCAS at the earliest, it said.

A person, who is not a passenger with a valid ticket, requires an AEP that is issued by the airport. The AEP application form, which is issued by the BCAS, mentions 13 zones that a person can enter. The permitted areas include the arrival halls, the departure halls, the terminal building, the apron area, the security hold area, cargo terminal among others.