Thales, developer of the RBE2 radar, says it's completed development work and now is starting series production. The radar should deliver around 40 percent greater range performance than the current standard, and be able to track many more targets simultaneously.
Final software validation and delivery of the first AESA system to Dassault is planned for early 2010. Low-rate production will involve only a handful of radars.
The production milestone is also key to Dassault's ambitions to sell the fighter overseas. India, where Rafale is competing, wants an AESA. The French government is also in advanced talks to sell Rafale to the United Arab Emirates, which operates AESAs on its F-16 Block 60s. UAE could mark the first export of Rafale.
In France, AESA-equipped Rafales would enter service starting in 2012. It would be the F4 standard of Rafale, which still has to be developed. The radar is not slated to be retrofitted on existing Rafales although it could be, says Pierre-Yves Chaltiel, senior vice president for Thales aerospace government programs. That could limit the French AESA force to 60-70 aircraft." - Aviation Week, Nov 4 2008
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