MOSCOW. Nov 15 (Interfax-AVN) - The first-ever Russian phased array radar is expected to stand trials in 2007, Yury Guskov, first deputy designer and director general of the Fazotron-NIIR corporation, told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"The first Russian Zhuk-A phased array radar is going to be installed into the MiG-29 fighter early next year," he said.
The MIG corporation will provide an aircraft for the flight tests, Guskov noted.
He also said that the active phased array radar ensures longer detection range than in-service passive phased arrays, but emphasized that active arrays have far more complicated design. "The French Rafale with the active phased array radar has been in tests since 2001, but has never been put into mass-production, and the U.S. F-22 also has lots of problems with its radar of the same type," he said.