Why don’t fighter planes have 360 degree radar?

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Why don’t fighter planes have 360 degree radar?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Radar antennas on a fighter plane are a bit like a searchlight; they are too large to just hang off of the outside of the fuselage without completely destroying the plane’s aerodynamics, and they don’t work if there is a piece of the plane in between the antenna and whatever they are trying to look at. These two factors make 360° radar on a fighter impossible; an antenna which can look in every direction will stick out so much that the fighter is uselessly slow.

You can look at aircraft like the E-2 Hawkeye or the E-3 Sentry to see the sorts of huge, drag inducing assemblies needed for 360° radar coverage; they aren’t necessary on fighters which can instead just radio a big AWACS plane for where the enemy is and then point their on radars in that direction.

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