Uttam AESA Radar

The project was initiated in 2008, and the development began in 2012. Its full-scale model was displayed at the 2017 Aero India air show and aviation exhibition. People who worked for DRDO AEW&CS's main radar and Maritime Patrol Radar were part of the project team. A fully functional active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar prototype was unveiled at Aero India 2019, the prototype was mounted inside the glass nose of a HAL Tejas prototype. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is the lead integrator and Bharat Electronics is the major supplier of subsystems. As per Project director D Seshagiri of the Electronics and Radar Development Establishment, Uttam AESA radar is 95% indigenous, with only one imported subsystem. The National Flight Testing Centre had evaluated the radar and cleared it after performance tests. The integration problem of Astra BVRAAM due to older generation of radars will also be solved by Uttam. During Aero India 2021, there was a licensing agreements for technology transfer from DRDO to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for manufacturing and integration of the Uttam in the Mark 1A variant of the HAL Tejas. The technology transfer to HAL was finished by DRDO in July 2023, and the radar was approved for export as well. == Testing ==

As of 2021, three units were in various phases of testing. The Uttam radar has completed 230 hours of airborne testing onboard two Tejas fighter jets (LSP2 and LSP3) and on an executive jet; presumed to be DRDO's Dornier 228 "Nabhratna" used as a flying test bed by LRDE. Once fully validated and certified, it is planned is to introduce the radar in later batches of Tejas Mark 1A aircraft. The Uttam radar will be used with DRDO's Unified Electronic Warfare suite. Indian Air Force Test Pilot School would start final demonstration trial of Uttam AESA radar from December 2021 and if successful will be sent for serial production. LRDE has completed 250 hours of performance testing on two Tejas fighters as well as Hawker 800 executive jet. As of April 2024, the radar has completed 125 test sorties onboard Tejas Mk 1 prototypes as per ADA Director Jitendra Jadhav. The radar has cleared testing Air to Air (A2A) and Air to Ground (A2G) modes while few more tests are yet to be conducted. The performance of the radar is on par with other proven designs like EL/M-2052. In April 2025, Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification informed HAL and DRDO internally that the Uttam radar had finished four stages of flight testing. Furthermore, the radar hardware has passed qualification tests in accordance with the specifications of the Tejas Mark 1A. CEMILAC suggested that construction of the radar subsystems be started in order to facilitate the induction of the radar, with the principal system integrator being Hyderabad based HAL's avionics division. ==Features==

• Full solid-state (electronics) radar, based on GaAs • High MTBCF (redundancy) • Range: >150 km • Multi Target Tracking (50 Targets), Priority Tracking (4 Targets). • Ultra-low side-lobe antenna • Flexible interfaces allowing scalable design. • Modular hardware and software • Fast-beam agile system • Quad band TRM modules pack • High mission reliability (built with redundancy) • IFF modes. • C-band LOS, Ku band satcom link. == Operational Modes ==

Uttam AESA radar has a total of 18 modes in Air to Air, Air to Ground and Air to Sea roles. The modes have been validated on-board a business jet and further proofing is being done on HAL Tejas to validate the same on supersonic platform. • Air-to-Air • TWS/Multi-target detection and tracking • Multi-target ACM • High resolution raid assessment • Air-to-Ground • High resolution imaging (SAR Mode) • High resolution tracking (SAR Mode) • AGR – Air-to-Ground Ranging • RBM – Real Beam Map • DBS – Doppler Beam Sharpening • GMTI on RBM, SAR • Weather • Air-to-Sea • High resolution imaging (SAR Mode) • High resolution tracking (SAR Mode) • Sea search and multi-target tracking • RS and ISAR classification modes. == Virupaaksha ==

Virupaaksha radar is an advanced version of the Uttam Mk-II radar. The radar under development will replace the current N011M Bars radar being used onboard the Sukhoi Su-30MKI after the Super Sukhoi upgrade program. Virupaaksha weighs half as much as the N011M Bars. The LRDE was working on the project, but got approval in October 2024. LRDE plans to set up "assembly jigs" to begin ground testing soon. These will be delivered within 16 weeks of the contract’s approval. The assembly will be completed within 15 weeks while the last week will be reserved for acceptance testing. Reportedly, the radar succeeded to track 64 to 100 aerial targets simultaneously during trials and offers at least 1.7 times increased head-on search range over the 140 km-range N011M Bars radar. It features advanced electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM). In air-to-air attack mode, Virupaaksha can maneuver, control, and direct six missiles simultaneously towards the target. The radar consists of eight Line Replaceable Units (LRUs) which includes : According to IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, over 200 of Su-30MKIs shall be upgraded to the Super Sukhoi standard with the Virupaksha radar. == Applications ==

The fighter jet platforms that have been integrated with Uttam radar or are planned to be integrated are as follows: ==Gallery==