PeeD
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Since the site is still up, I feel confident to speak about some detail products:
The product X-MR is basically all you need in terms of radar for a Iranian Pantsir.
It is also what you need for the most critical component of the Bavar-373 system: the engagement radar.
The most powerful thermal camera on the site represents a breakthrough in countering ECM, stealth and decoys.
These 3 things are probably more important than anything else on the site, including inflatable RV decoy and the Iranian Nebo variant.
The X-MR would be the ideal complete radar package solution for a Iranian Pantsir.
X-band AESAs are traditionally expensive but compared to the Pantsir-S1 and even -S2, you can skip having two PESA or a PESA and a planar array.
You safe the cost for a second radar and make the system significantly more compact by having a single, somewhat expensive AESA radar.
The system would probably have a single Phalanx-like radome smaller than any of the two Pantsir radars and perform the same task.
It may look like a luxury engineering solution to simply use a AESA to get a Pantsir-like system, something a country of lower skill would do at the cost of a much more expensive system doing the same task.
But I'm confident that Iran has gone that way because their research allowed to mass-produce a X-band T/R module that is cost effective enough.
Achieving that was a major goal for Iran because its Bavar-373 engagement radar needs more than 10.000 such X-band TRM modules for each radar.
A mass-production true factory scale production is needed to allow for this. Rohani talked about air-defense to get founds on national-scale level.
So now with the first appearance of a Iranian X-band AESA, I think the major thing here is that mass-production factory for X-band TRMs.
Only such a mass-production level output could push the price per TRM low enough to create a "AESA-Pantsir or AESA Tor-M1". A key requirement would be to develop a X-band TRM that has an useful power-level at the lowest possible price. The main hurdle is that this would be a semi-conductor factory with probably 1000+ employees. Iran has no strong previous capabilities in semi-conductor/waver mass-production.
Not only a compact multi engagement Iranian Pansir and Bavar-373 engagement radar become possible with the X-MR. It also makes it likely that the 3rd Khordad uses a X-band AESA and allows for a CIWS that also uses Pantsir like missiles in addition to 30mm AK-630 variant, etc.
Added to this comes a thermal camera that can detect head-on fighter at extended 150km.
Equipping all those systems, from Bavar-373 to Iranian-Pantsir to a missile CIWS with such a high performing camera for tracking AND search, opens up a whole new dimension of a passive sensor. Sensor fusion of TI, optical channel and radar (in case of Bavar-373 multi-band) would make these systems significantly more deadly. 150km is extended range and if engine exhaust is visible then the range increases to 300km.
- Passive long range detection and engagement becomes possible
- Determining true target, if enemy successfully employs ECM, becomes possible
- Chaff and towed decoys can be effectively rejected via sensor fusion
- Identification andIFF can be done early + decoys like MALD can be determined as well as targets representing a lower threat.
- Like multi-band radar networks can distinguish LO/VLO/stealth targets from conventional ones, long range passive detection can also be used for determining this two cases.
The product X-MR is basically all you need in terms of radar for a Iranian Pantsir.
It is also what you need for the most critical component of the Bavar-373 system: the engagement radar.
The most powerful thermal camera on the site represents a breakthrough in countering ECM, stealth and decoys.
These 3 things are probably more important than anything else on the site, including inflatable RV decoy and the Iranian Nebo variant.
The X-MR would be the ideal complete radar package solution for a Iranian Pantsir.
X-band AESAs are traditionally expensive but compared to the Pantsir-S1 and even -S2, you can skip having two PESA or a PESA and a planar array.
You safe the cost for a second radar and make the system significantly more compact by having a single, somewhat expensive AESA radar.
The system would probably have a single Phalanx-like radome smaller than any of the two Pantsir radars and perform the same task.
It may look like a luxury engineering solution to simply use a AESA to get a Pantsir-like system, something a country of lower skill would do at the cost of a much more expensive system doing the same task.
But I'm confident that Iran has gone that way because their research allowed to mass-produce a X-band T/R module that is cost effective enough.
Achieving that was a major goal for Iran because its Bavar-373 engagement radar needs more than 10.000 such X-band TRM modules for each radar.
A mass-production true factory scale production is needed to allow for this. Rohani talked about air-defense to get founds on national-scale level.
So now with the first appearance of a Iranian X-band AESA, I think the major thing here is that mass-production factory for X-band TRMs.
Only such a mass-production level output could push the price per TRM low enough to create a "AESA-Pantsir or AESA Tor-M1". A key requirement would be to develop a X-band TRM that has an useful power-level at the lowest possible price. The main hurdle is that this would be a semi-conductor factory with probably 1000+ employees. Iran has no strong previous capabilities in semi-conductor/waver mass-production.
Not only a compact multi engagement Iranian Pansir and Bavar-373 engagement radar become possible with the X-MR. It also makes it likely that the 3rd Khordad uses a X-band AESA and allows for a CIWS that also uses Pantsir like missiles in addition to 30mm AK-630 variant, etc.
Added to this comes a thermal camera that can detect head-on fighter at extended 150km.
Equipping all those systems, from Bavar-373 to Iranian-Pantsir to a missile CIWS with such a high performing camera for tracking AND search, opens up a whole new dimension of a passive sensor. Sensor fusion of TI, optical channel and radar (in case of Bavar-373 multi-band) would make these systems significantly more deadly. 150km is extended range and if engine exhaust is visible then the range increases to 300km.
- Passive long range detection and engagement becomes possible
- Determining true target, if enemy successfully employs ECM, becomes possible
- Chaff and towed decoys can be effectively rejected via sensor fusion
- Identification andIFF can be done early + decoys like MALD can be determined as well as targets representing a lower threat.
- Like multi-band radar networks can distinguish LO/VLO/stealth targets from conventional ones, long range passive detection can also be used for determining this two cases.
