Engineering:APY-016K
The APY-016K is a gallium nitride (GaN) based active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire-control radar designed by Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Hanwha Systems for the KAI KF-21 Boramae fighter aircraft.[1][2] The early prototype was developed with 1,400 transmit/receive modules (TRM) with 14 kW of power, but by the time of the later prototype, the design had been changed to an antenna unit with about 1,100 TRMs.[3][4]
The development program was conducted from August 2016 to August 2020 and has been produced by Hanwha Systems since August 2025.[5][6]
Design
The APY-016K has air-to-air, air-to-ground detection and tracking capabilities, as well as synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) and terrain-following radar (TFR) modes,[7][8] and interleaved modes to operate two different modes simultaneously[3][9] The antenna units operated at the X-band frequency are composed to a total of 1,152 transmit/receive modules (TRM).[4]
Transmit/receive module
One transmit/receive module is assembled with one thin radiating element in the form of a square 4 millimeters wide.[4] The module system is also applied with solid-state power amplifier (SSPA), high-speed signal processing, low-noise amplifier (LNA), and 6-bit phase shift technology.[10]
- Operating frequency: X-band (8–12 GHz)
- Tx gain: >36 dB
- Rx gain: >26 dB
- Noise figure: <4.5 dB
- Input P1dB Rx: <37 dBm (maximum)
- Pulse width: <200 µs (maximum)
- Duty cycle: 15%
- Rise time: <100 µs
- Communication interface: Parallel RS-422
Radar modes
The radar system has three air-to-air, air-to-ground, and air-to-sea main modes, each of which is operated in a selective sub-mode.[3][8]
| Main mode | Submode | Operational interleaved mode | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air-to-air | Search while track (SWT) | SAR/TFR | |
| High priority precision track (HPPT) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Raid assessment (RA) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Air combat maneuvering (ACM) | TFR | ||
| Air-to-ground | Real beam ground map (RBGM) | SAR/TFR | |
| Doppler beam sharpening (DBS) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Ground moving target indication (GMTI) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Ground moving target track (GMTT) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Air-to-ground ranging (AGR) | SAR/TFR | ||
| Air-to-sea | Sea surface search (SSS) | SAR/TFR | |
| Sea moving target track (SMTT) | SAR/TFR | ||
References
- ↑ "KF-21 AESA Radar". Agency for Defense Development. Archived from the original on 23 December 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251223071523/https://www.add.re.kr/board?menuId=MENU02869&siteId=SITE00003. Retrieved 23 December 2025.
- ↑ "AESA 레이더 등 KF-21에 국산기술 탑재…공중발사순항미사일도". Yonhap News Agency. 19 July 2022. Archived from the original on 19 July 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220719074143/https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20220719021100504. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "능동 위상 배열 레이더 (ACTIVE ELECTRONICALLY SCANNED ARRAY RADAR)". Ministry of Intellectual Property. 19 September 2017. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260214053119/https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/3a/5a/e4/e764f0584cec27/KR101779900B1.pdf. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "능동 위상 배열 레이더의 빔을 조향하는 방법 및 이 방법을 이용한 능동 위상 배열 레이더 (METHOD FOR STEERING BEAM OF ACTIVE ELECTRICALLY SCANNED ARRAY RADAR, AND ACTIVE ELECTRICALLY SCANNED ARRAY RADAR USING SAME)". Ministry of Intellectual Property. 20 August 2019. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260214144125/https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/f3/cd/74/a4ebcb84a1d547/KR102012392B1.pdf. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedDAPA Magazine 2020-10 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedYNA 2017-07-13 - ↑ "KF-X AESA 레이다". Agency for Defense Development. 5 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 October 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251009235914/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlONFoK0HMU. Retrieved 9 October 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Multiple Target Management of Air-to-Air mode on Airborne AESA Radar". Agency for Defense Development. 31 October 2023. Archived from the original on 14 February 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260214041716/https://www.koreascience.kr/article/JAKO202331137977556.pdf. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
- ↑ "Load-Based Beam Operating Algorithm Design and Analysis of Test Results for the AESA Radar Interleaved Mode". Agency for Defense Development. 31 August 2023. Archived from the original on 22 February 2026. https://web.archive.org/web/20260222055609/https://www.jkiees.org/download/download_pdf?pid=jkiees-34-8-638. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedKF-21 Transmit-Receive Module
See also
External links
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