What You Need to Know: The Royal Air Force (RAF) successfully tested its Eurofighter Typhoon equipped with the new European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk2), developed by Leonardo UK. The electronic warfare (EW) system enhances the Typhoon’s ability to locate, identify, and disrupt enemy air defenses using advanced jamming capabilities.

-Tested at BAE Systems' facility, the ECRS Mk2 is designed for integration into NATO’s Typhoon fleet, offering increased battlefield awareness and suppression of enemy radar systems.

-The system could be deployed by the end of the decade and is retrofittable to existing Typhoons, providing significant advantages in future combat scenarios.

The RAF's Eurofighter Typhoon Now Equipped with New Electronic Warfare System

The UK's Royal Air Force (RAF) completed the first successful test flight of a Eurofighter Typhoon equipped with the European Common Radar System Mark 2 (ECRS Mk2). The flight, which was conducted at BAE Systems' test facility in Lancashire in Northern England last week, followed a series of ground-based testing that involved the UK's Ministry of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), defense contractors BAE Systems and Leonardo, and the RAF.

The new electronic warfare (EW) radar was developed by Leonardo UK, and it was designed to provide pilots with the ability to locate, identify, and if necessary even suppress hostile air defenses. According to a report from The Defense Post, the ECRS Mk2 can also enable "fighter jets to disrupt enemy radars through powerful jamming while maintaining a safe distance from threats."

The report added that last week's flight test was conducted to determine the ECRS Mk2's compatibility with the Eurofighter Typhoon. The multirole all-weather fighter is widely employed by NATO members, and following the completion of tests, the EW system could see use throughout the alliance.

"This is another landmark moment in this strategically important programme which will provide the RAF with battle-winning technology that gives them the edge to protect the nation," said Nick Moore, Typhoon department head for Capability Acquisition at DE&S. "The ECRS Mk2 radar will further transform Eurofighter Typhoon's control of the air and provide exceptional capability our adversaries will struggle to match."

Improving the Eurofighter

According to Leonardo UK, the EW suite was "developed using experience gained from the development and production of ECRS Mk0, Raven and Captor M fire control radar systems," while it was "specifically designed to meet the UK MOD’s requirements for its Eurofighter Typhoon fleet."

The ECRS Mk2 can operate as a "multi-role system," and offer capabilities "beyond standard radars." In addition to detecting hostile signals, it can engage in electronic attack (EA) – essentially blinding an enemy – while it is also able to operate on a far broader range of the electromagnetic spectrum. That would provide a "massive advantage" for the Eurofighter Typhoon when going head-to-head with an adversary.

"The EW and EA functions increase threat awareness and provide operators with the ability to locate, identify and jam enemy radio frequency emitting surface-to-air systems, providing enhanced ownership and third-party protection whilst conducting a SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defences) mission," Leonardo UK added.

"Evolution of Typhoon's air combat capability is paramount to ensure Typhoon continues to deter potential aggressors, defend our nation and defeat our adversaries wherever we need to fly and fight whether for the UK or in our staunch support to the NATO alliance," added RAF Air Commodore Nick Lowe, the head capability delivery Combat Air and Typhoon senior responsible officer. "This first flight of this ECRS Mk2 prototype new radar in the test aircraft is a positive step towards ensuring this."

The RAF further announced that the development of the ECRS Mk2 "supports more than 600 jobs" in the UK's aerospace and defense industry. The RAF's Eurofighter Typhoons could be equipped with the EW/EA platform by the end of the decade while it could also be offered to other operators of the aircraft. Currently, nine different nations now operate the Eurofighter Typhoon, and more than 680 have been ordered to date. The ECRS Mk2 can be retrofitted to Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 Typhoons.

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Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

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