Thales RDY-2, Multimode Pulse Doppler Radar On Mirage 2000-5 New For Indonesian Air Force
The confirmation news of the procurement of 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets formerly used by the Qatar Air Force by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, immediately became a challenge for the Indonesian Air Force Engineering Squadron in handling new types of radar in the fighter jet arsenal, because so far the Indonesian Air Force has not once operated a fighter jet made in France.
The confirmation news of the procurement of 12 Mirage 2000-5 fighter jets formerly used by the Qatar Air Force by the Indonesian Ministry of Defense, immediately became a challenge for the Indonesian Air Force Engineering Squadron in handling new types of radar in the fighter jet arsenal, because so far the Indonesian Air Force has not once operated a fighter jet made in France.
And complementing the ex-Qatar Mirage 2000-5 which will arrive in the next two years, the Indonesian Air Force Technical Squadron (Skatek) technicians will adapt to the type of radar that complements the Mirage 2000-5EDA (single seat) and Mirage 2000-5DDA (tandem seat).
And the type of radar in question is (Radar Doppler modele Y) RDY-2, namely the Pulse-Doppler Multimode Look-down/shoot-down radar designed by Thomson-CSF (now Thales).
Referring to the early variants of the Mirage 2000, the early delta wing fighter's radar only worked in air-to-air mode. Later, RDY was designed to add air-to-ground modes, specifically the ability to control AM-39 Exocet and Kormoran 2 anti-ship missiles.
As a multi-mode radar, the RDY-2 all-weather synthetic aperture radar (SAR) enables the Mirage 2000 to perform ground mapping at less than one meter resolution and fine tracking of ground targets.
The RDY-2 is capable of operating in a variety of operating modes, including air search, air-to-air targeting, and air-to-ground targeting.
Air search mode allows detection, tracking and identification of air targets at long ranges, while providing a broad overview of the air situation.
Meanwhile, the air-to-air targeting mode allows the use of high-precision air-to-air weapons, including long-range missiles such as the MICA or short-range missiles such as the Magic.
Then, the air-to-ground targeting mode allows tracking of surface targets, such as armored vehicles or enemy positions, as well as high-accuracy targeting of air-to-ground weapons with.
The RDY-2 has operational capabilities in all weather conditions, including rain, fog or heavy clouds.
This radar is equipped with a weather imaging feature to reduce the impact of rain or bad weather on radar performance, so that it can still detect and track targets with high accuracy.
This radar has the ability to track and monitor multiple targets simultaneously with high accuracy thanks to moving target indicator capability.
Using advanced signal processing techniques, the RDY-2 can manage data from multiple targets and provide accurate information to pilots. The radar can also be used to fire semi-active missiles.
About the detection range of the RDY-2 radar varies depending on factors such as the physical size and radar cross section of the target being encountered.
The larger the target's radar size and cross-section, the farther the detection range can be.
Then the resulting electromagnetic noise or radar signature reduction (Radar Cross Section reduction), can affect the ability of the RDY-2 radar to detect targets at a longer distance.
Weather and environmental conditions such as rain, fog, heavy clouds or electromagnetic interference can affect the detection range of the radar.
The RDY-2 radar is also equipped with a weather imaging feature to reduce the influence of bad weather on radar performance.
The RDY-2 radar system weighs up to 240 kg and has a 655 mm flat plate antenna (wave tube transmitter). In theory, the maximum range is 60 nmi (110 km) in air-to-air mode and 20 nmi (37 km) in look-down mode.
The RDY-2 can detect 24 targets, track eight of them and engage four of them at once. The RDY-2 successfully demonstrated its ability to reliably detect fighter-sized targets at a range of 140 km.
