0 P A R I S 9 9

S e e k e r g e t s
o n t r a c k
The Ra fa le 's e le c tro -o ptic s e ns ors , t he a ir c r a ft 's
'e ye s ' will provide a va lua ble s upple me nt t o t he
radar and to g e the r will g ive t he c re w a de t a ile d
a ll-we a the r vie w
JULIAN MOXON/PARIS
FLI GHT TESTING of the Rafale's front
HJ P sector Optronics (FSO) system began in
r
April, aboard the Dassault Mystere 20
"avion banc d'essai" testbed aircraft. It will
be the first fully integrated optronic surveillance
and tracking system installed on a European
fighter aircraft. It is in some ways more advanced
than equivalent systems in the USA, says pro-
gramme manager Thomson Optronique.
Development has been held back because of
the overall delays in the Rafale programme, but
also because of the immense task of ensuring the
system is fully integrated with the radar and
electronic countermeasures to provide the mul-
tirole capability which is key to the Rafale.
The "eyes" of the FSO comprise the infrared
system (on the right hand side) and TV/laser on
the left, mounted on top of the nose, in front of
the pilot. Thomson Optronique is responsible
for overall integration and for the TV and laser
ranging elements of the FSO, Sagem the
infrared component. The signals from both
devices are fed to a dedicated computer mount-
ed directly below the scanners, between the
radar and its processor.
The FSO provides air-to-air and air-to-sur-