Industry is funding development of the Captor-E active electronically scanned array radar destined for the Eurofighter Typhoon because the four governments in the fighter program don't have the money available at this stage.
Selex Galileo chief executive Fabrizio Giuliani told reporters June 8 that members of the Euroradar consortium and Eurofighter would provide "pre-funding, not self-funding."
The Italian executive said that by the expected signing of a letter of intent backing the AESA program at the Paris Air Show later this month the governments of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are "committed to pay back Eurofighter and Euroradar what we anticipate [spending]."
Euroradar, which is led by Selex, also involves EADS and Indra. Eurofighter is the Typhoon management organization operated by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.
Bob Mason, the executive vice president for sensors and airborne systems at Selex Galileo, said finance was not an issue. The important thing was to get the Eurofighter nations officially committed to the program through the letter of intent, Mason said.
"We understand the financial constraints. Finance is not the issue; that is being made available by Eurofighter and Euroradar for full-scale development. The issue is the backing of the governments and that's what the letter of intent will give us. Export customers like India and Japan will be more comfortable with the backing of the Eurofighter governments," he said.
The four nations "will join at the appropriate time when they have the budgets available," he said.
The availability of an AESA radar was a key requirement for the multi-billion dollar competition being run by the Indian government to equip the air force with a multi-role medium weight fighter. Typhoon was downselected recently alongside the Dassault Rafale for the final stages of the competition.
Talks over the releasability of the AESA technology to India is still under debate and depends on the final solution and final negotiations, Mason said.
"We are looking at the manufacturer of certain subsystems in India software transition in terms of modes and bringing new modes into the radar as well," he said.
Mason said they had agreed a "large amount of funding" from the Eurofighter governments through to the first production standard radars scheduled for completion in 2014 for aircraft production the following year.
The executive said Euroradar now had a huge team working on the development at Selex's main development plant in Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Aside from the Captor-E, Selex is also working in the combat aircraft field on a similar AESA radar for the Saab Gripen NG, and is involved in separate technology demonstrator programs funded by the British and Italian governments.
Selex Galileo chief executive Fabrizio Giuliani told reporters June 8 that members of the Euroradar consortium and Eurofighter would provide "pre-funding, not self-funding."
The Italian executive said that by the expected signing of a letter of intent backing the AESA program at the Paris Air Show later this month the governments of Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain are "committed to pay back Eurofighter and Euroradar what we anticipate [spending]."
Euroradar, which is led by Selex, also involves EADS and Indra. Eurofighter is the Typhoon management organization operated by BAE Systems, EADS and Finmeccanica.
Bob Mason, the executive vice president for sensors and airborne systems at Selex Galileo, said finance was not an issue. The important thing was to get the Eurofighter nations officially committed to the program through the letter of intent, Mason said.
"We understand the financial constraints. Finance is not the issue; that is being made available by Eurofighter and Euroradar for full-scale development. The issue is the backing of the governments and that's what the letter of intent will give us. Export customers like India and Japan will be more comfortable with the backing of the Eurofighter governments," he said.
The four nations "will join at the appropriate time when they have the budgets available," he said.
The availability of an AESA radar was a key requirement for the multi-billion dollar competition being run by the Indian government to equip the air force with a multi-role medium weight fighter. Typhoon was downselected recently alongside the Dassault Rafale for the final stages of the competition.
Talks over the releasability of the AESA technology to India is still under debate and depends on the final solution and final negotiations, Mason said.
"We are looking at the manufacturer of certain subsystems in India software transition in terms of modes and bringing new modes into the radar as well," he said.
Mason said they had agreed a "large amount of funding" from the Eurofighter governments through to the first production standard radars scheduled for completion in 2014 for aircraft production the following year.
The executive said Euroradar now had a huge team working on the development at Selex's main development plant in Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Aside from the Captor-E, Selex is also working in the combat aircraft field on a similar AESA radar for the Saab Gripen NG, and is involved in separate technology demonstrator programs funded by the British and Italian governments.
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