UK to fly Eurofighter ECRS Mk 2 E-Scan radar ‘in coming weeks'

A prototype of the ECRS Mk 2 radar has been installed on a test and evaluation aircraft at BAE Systems' facility in Warton, ahead of flight trials next year. (BAE Systems)

BAE Systems and its programme partners will fly the Leonardo European Common Radar System (ECRS) Mk2 aboard a Eurofighter Typhoon testbed aircraft “in the coming weeks”, the UK government confirmed on 19 September.

Answering questions in the House of Commons, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Maria Eagle said that, having passed several ground-based milestones in recent months, the new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar (also known as an electronically scanned [E-Scan] radar) is now due to fly for the first time.

“The ECRS Mk 2 programme has achieved several positive milestones in the past four months, notably passing the production radar system CDR [critical design review] in June 2024 and the completion of prototype ground testing on a Typhoon trial aircraft in July 2024. Teams across the Ministry of Defence and industry are working to meet the major milestone of a first flight of ECRS Mk2 over the coming weeks.”

BAE Systems said ahead of the Farnborough Airshow in July that this first flight milestone was coming. With Eurofighter test aircraft ZK355/BS116 now equipped with the new radar, flight trials will be conducted out of BAE Systems' Warton site in North West England. More aircraft will be added to the flight-test programme as it progresses.