Country of origin United Kingdom Type Airborne radar PRF low, medium and high | Introduced 1990s Frequency I-band | |
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Blue Vixen was a British airborne radar designed and built for the Royal Navy by Ferranti Defence Systems (later, GEC-Marconi), Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Design and development
Blue Vixen was a lightweight (145 kg) multimode, coherent, pulse-Doppler I band airborne radar, developed from the previous Ferranti Blue Fox radar, and designed for use on the British Aerospace Sea Harrier FA2. It was a multimode radar for airborne interception and air-to-surface strike roles over water and land, with look-down/shoot-down and look-up modes. Designed from the start to have full AIM-120 AMRAAM compatibility, it was also compatible with Sea Eagle and AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.
Development Aircraft Used
Two British Aerospace 125 aircraft were used for the flight trial’s program. The first (XW930 serial number 25009) was a Series 1 aircraft which had previously been used by the CAFU (Civil Aviation Flying Unit) before it was absorbed into the Royal Aircraft Establishment. It was equipped with a modified nose and carried out the initial development work. This was joined by the dedicated trails aircraft (a series 600 serial number 256059 registered ZF130 pictured opposite) which fitted with a replica of the Sea Harrier cockpit at the co-pilot's station as well as a Sidewinder acquisition round on a pylon beneath the starboard wing.
Aircraft fitted to
British Aerospace Sea Harrier F(A).2