Spain flies new E-Scan radar for Eurofighter

The first ECRS E-Scan radar for Spain and Germany Eurofighter combat aircraft made its maiden flight aboard a Spanish Air and Space Force test aircraft on 2 December 2024. (Airbus)

Spain has for the first time flown the new European Common Radar System (ECRS) E-Scan radar for the Eurofighter combat aircraft.

Airbus said on 2 December that a Spanish Air and Space Force testbed aircraft had flown with the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar that will equip Spanish and German Eurofighters.

“Enhancing the Eurofighter's capabilities in multimode air-to-air and air-to-ground operations, the electronically scanned radar will be integrated into the latest-generation Eurofighters of Spain's ‘Halcón' and Germany's ‘Quadriga' orders,” Airbus said.

The ECRS is also sometimes referred to as Captor-E. The baseline E-Scan radar is known as ECRS Mk 0, and is the system for Kuwait and Qatar as well as initially for Luftwaffe Tranche 2 and 3 Eurofighters. Airbus, through its subcontractors Hensoldt (Germany) and Indra (Spain), has constructed a new digital multichannel receiver to transform the ECRS Mk 0 into the ECRS Mk 1. Airbus had not responded to a Janes request for clarification on the particular version of the radar flown in this latest milestone at the time of publication.

For Spain, its 20 Tranche 4 Halcón I jets that are to be delivered from 2026 will receive the ECRS Mk 1 radar from new, as will the 25 Tranche 4+/5 Halcón II jets that are due to be contracted imminently. Further, the Spanish Air and Space Force operates 17 Tranche 1, 32 Tranche 2, and 19 Tranche 3 Eurofighters that may be retrofitted with the radar under plans to equip Long-Term Evolution (LTE) enhancements to its wider Eurofighter (designated C.16 in national service) fleet.

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