The N010 Zhuk are a family of Russian (former USSR) all-weather multimode airborne radars developed by NIIR Phazotron for multi-role combat aircraft such as the MiG-29. The PESA versions were also known as Sokol.
Description The Zhuk (Beetle) family of X band pulse-Doppler radars provide aircraft with two modes of operation, air-to-air and air-to-surface. The air-to-air mode of the Zhuk is capable of detecting targets and measuring their coordinates, range and speed. The radar has a look-down/shoot-down capability for air targets against a cluttered or water background and a variety of search modes are available. Individual targets can be tracked or multiple targets can be tracked and engaged at once while searching for new targets in track while scan mode. The Zhuk radar can identify detected targets by class and prioritise multiple targets for engagement. A variety of close combat scanning modes are featured including vertical scan, HUD view, boresight and slewable are available as well as locking onto a visually acquired target. The Zhuk radar also offers the ability to track and engage helicopters even when they are hovering. The Zhuk is compatible with a variety of air-to-air weapons including the radar guided R-77 and R-27 missiles to which it can provide targeting, target brightening and radio adjustment. The radar is compatible with optically guided missiles like the R-73 and can also provide fire control for aircraft cannon. In the air-to-surface mode the N010 radar offers a mapping capability using either Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), real beam or doppler beam narrowing modes with a resolution of up to 3x3m with zooming and image freezing functions. The radar can detect and track with measurement of range and speed both moving and static ground and naval targets. The Zhuk radar can support low altitude terrain following flying and can also detect dangerous weather patterns during flight. The radar is compatible with a variety of air-to-surface weaponry, including Kh-29 air-to-surface missiles as well as Kh-31 anti-radiation missiles.
Variants
Zhuk The Zhuk (N010) radar was first tested in 1987 for installation on the MiG-29M fighter upgrade and was also proposed as a radar upgrade for the MiG-23 fighter. The original Zhuk radar was only capable of air-to-air combat and never made it into service with the Russian armed forces due to the cancellation of the MiG-29M upgrade program. The Zhuk has a weight of 250 kg and uses a 680 mm electronically scanned slotted planar array antenna which offers a detection range of 90 km against a target with a 5 m2 radar cross-section (RCS). The radar can track 10–12 targets while engaging 2–4 of them with a scanning area of +/- 90 degrees in azimuth and +55/-40 degrees in elevation; its power output was rated at 5 kW peak.
Zhuk-8II An export variant of the Zhuk radar developed for the Shenyang F-8-II Finback-B with similar performance to the Zhuk radar, only with a slightly reduced weight of 240 kg. Scan sector is +85° in azimuth and +55/-40° in elevation, with a range of 90 km against bombers and 70 km against fighters. The radar can simultaneously detect 10 targets, track 2 of the 10 detected and engage 1 of the 2 tracked.
Zhemchoug Zhemchoug (Pearl) of Zhuk series radar is a radar developed for Chengdu J-10 and FC-1 project with planar slotted array antenna. Weight is reduced by approximately a third to 180 kg, and the search and tracking range is 80 km and 60 km respectively. Zhemchoug can simultaneously detect 20 targets and track 4 of 20 detected, and engage the 4 tracked. However, China did not choose this radar for their J-10 fighter.
Zhuk-10PD Zhuk-10PD is a further upgrade of earlier Zhemchoug also intended for Chinese J-10, with search range increased to 160 km (85 nm), and the targets that can be simultaneously tracked increased to 6. However, once again Chinese didn't choose this radar due to the successful development of their active phased array airborne radar (AESA) radar.
Zhuk-27 Designed for the Su-27 but with similar tracking and scanning performance to the Zhuk radar, the Zhuk-27 weighed slightly more than the Zhuk at 275 kg but had a superior detection range of 130 km vs a 5 m2 RCS target.
Zhuk-M (Export Designation Zhuk-ME) The N010M Zhuk-M is a further development of Zhuk radar. The radar forms part of the MiG-29 and its variations. The Zhuk-ME finding success on export MiG-29K aircraft to India. The radar features improved signal processing and has a detection range of up to 120 km vs a 5 m2 RCS target for the export variant, and up to 10 targets tracked and up to 4 attacked at once in air-to-air mode. In air-to-surface mode the radar can detect a tank from up to 25 km away and a bridge from 120 km away, a naval destroyer could be detected up to 300 km away and up to two surface targets can be tracked at once. The radar has a weight of 220 kg and a scanning area of +/- 85 degrees in azimuth and +56/-40 degrees in elevation. The antenna is a mechanically scanned slotted planar array and has a diameter of 624 mm. The Indian Navy has reportedly had multiple Radar failures with the Zhuk-ME radar used on both the MiG-29K/KUB with its serviceability dropping to around 60-hours before becoming defective. This was also confirmed by leaked documents released by Black Mirror Hackers, a Ukrainian hacking group.
Zhuk-MS (Export Designation Zhuk-MSE) Zhuk-M radar developed for the Su-27 and its derivatives, the export Zhuk-MSE is suggested as being exported to China for use in PLAAF Su-30MKK aircraft. The antenna is an electronically scanned slotted planar array and has a diameter of 980 mm with a peak output of 6 kW. The Zhuk-MSE offers detection performance up to 150 km vs a 5 m2 RCS target with up to 10 targets tracked and up to 4 attacked at once in air-to-air mode. The radar has a weight of 275 kg
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