AWG-9 Radar http://www.novia.net/~tomcat/AWG9.

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AWG-9 Weapon Control System

ARTICLE INDEXED FOR: "AWG-9" AND/OR "AWG-9"

LATEST UPDATE 5APR90

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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
DESIGNATOR: AWG-9

DESCRIPTION
The AN/AWG-9 is an aircraft weapon control system that can simultaneously track up to 24 targets
and guide missiles to 6 of them. Developed to control the AIM-54 Phoenix air-to-air missile, the
AWG-9 can be used with AIM-7 Sparrow, AIM-9 Sidewinder, and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles,
as well as for the F-14's M61 20-mm Gatling gun. Its transmitter can generate Continuous Wave,
pulse, and pulse-Doppler beams.

The AWG-9 radar can detect targets as low as 50 ft (15 m) and as high as 80,000 ft (24,384 m) at
ranges over 115 nm (132 mi; 213 km), and across a front more than 150 nm (173 mi; 278 km) wide.

The system has 26 powered units including 3 units for the digital general-purpose computer, 2
power supply units, 4 radar units, the antenna, 5 signal processors, 3 transmitter power units, 3
missile auxiliary units, and 5 elements for the cockpit display.

The slotted, planar array antenna has a 36-in (914-mm) diameter and has 2 rows of 6 dipole arrays
for the Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system. It is raster-scanned in "bars". The search area is
subdivided into horizontal slices, the number of slices describing the particular pattern (e.g., a 4-bar
pattern numbered 1 to 4 from bottom to top may scan in a 4-2-3-1 order). A broad sweep will take
13 seconds and divide a large 170-deg wide volume into 8 bars; the tightest pattern is a 1/4-second,
1-bar sweep over 10 deg. The AWG-9 can also scan in 2- and 4-bar patterns; intermediate azimuth
limits are 20 and 40 deg.

2 Travelling Wave Tube transmitters energize the antenna. 1 is used for Continuous-Wave (CW)
illumination of a target for the Sparrow's Semi-Active Radar (SAR) homing seeker. The other TWT
provides either conventional pulse or pulse doppler beams and can operate in 1 of several modes.
Pulse modes include search (PS) and single-target-track (PSTT). Pulse-Doppler modes include:

Search (PDS) for range rate and bearing

Range-While-Scan (RWS) using a high Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) that generates a
range as well as range rate and bearing
Single-target-track (PDSTT) for velocity measurement and jam-angle tracking
Track-While-Scan (TWS) for Phoenix missile targeting of up to 24 targets simultaneously
within a 2-bar, 40-deg or 4-bar, 20-deg pattern, which yields a 2-sec scan rate. Time-sharing
techniques permit simultaneous mid-course guidance of 6 Phoenixes at once against 6
different targets.
Other modes include a Vertical Scan Lock-on (VSL) in which the radar scans a 40-deg vertical
plane with a 4.8-deg-wide beam.

The "slice" has a lower threshold between 15 deg below the aircraft axis (ending at 25 deg above)
and 15 deg above (ending at 55 deg above). Pilot-Rapid-Location (PRL) is effectively a boresight
mode using a 2.3-deg-wide beam. Both conventional and pulse-Doppler modes can be slaved to an
Infrared Search and Tracking (IRST) system in which the IRST passively acquires a target and the

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radar illuminates the target at the appropriate time.

STATUS
Production of complete AWG-9 systems ended in August 1988; spares manufacture ended in 1989.
Manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Company Radar Systems Group, El Segundo, Calif

PLATFORMS/USERS
F-14 Tomcat

CHARACTERISTICS
Weight 1,300 lb (590 kg)
Volume 28 cu ft (0.79 cu m)
Maximum ranges
Pulse search 63 nm ( 73 mi; 117 km)
PSTT 49 nm ( 56 mi; 91 km)
PDS of 53.8-sq ft (5-sq m) target 115 nm (132 mi; 213 km)
RWS, TWS 90 nm (104 mi; 167 km)
VSL, PRL 5 nm ( 6 mi; 9 km)
CW illumination for Sparrow 38 nm ( 44 mi; 70 km)

VARIANTS
AWG-9
Production version.

APG-71
Upgraded digital version that improves or replaces every element of the AWG-9 except for the
transmitter, power supply, and aft cockpit display; see separate database entry.

ISSUES
Although the AWG-9 has an impressive potential for fleet defense, it is worth noting that the
Phoenix has never been used in combat and the Sparrow's success rate against hostile targets in the
1980s (4 Libyan and 1 Iranian aircraft) is 1 out of 6. 3 of the 4 Libyan aircraft shot down were hit
by IR-guided Sidewinders at close range.

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