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Old 30th Aug 2018, 11:32
  #71 (permalink)  
LowObservable
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Far West Wessex
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There's little doubt the sensor is very good. However, it is not a 360 degree sensor and has a 30 degree blind spot fore and aft. So if you need 360 degree coverage, this sensor is not for you.

First, when do you actually need 360-degree coverage? In the real world, in land-based defensive ops, you usually have a pretty good idea where the activity you want to monitor is, and you position your racetrack accordingly. Second, if you have a constantly rotating radar and you are protecting/looking over a border, half the time it's pointed in the wrong direction; and if you're tracking specific targets you have limited dwell time once every ten seconds.

That being said, this very good system is not interoperable with US or NATO equipment, so for a nation like the UAE that does not need to interoperate with other forces its a great choice. For forces that need to interoperate with the US and/or NATO, not so much.

What makes it "not interoperable"? That's a matter of the comms equipment on board. And a NATO nation already uses EriEye, and it's news to me that the UAE does not need to interoperate with the US.
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