F-35’s New AN/APG-85 Radar Likely to Have Directed Energy Attack Capability - Reports

The AN/APG-85 radar scheduled to be introduced into service on U.S. Armed Forces F-35 fifth generation fighter aircraft has been assessed by a number of analysts to be likely to have a directed-energy attack capability, transforming the aircraft’s primary sensor from a purely sensing system into an offensive electronic weapon. Although this capability has not been officially confirmed, analysts at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and analysts writing for other sources, have paid particular attention to the new radar’s unprecedented cooling requirements and its apparent requirement to generate exceptionally high radio-frequency power. It is contended that this is required to allow it to disable or damage hostile electronics, thus serving as an energy weapon.

Analysts have contended that the new radar’s dramatic increase in cooling demand appears disproportionate if the radar were intended solely to improve conventional radar performance. Compared with the current AN/APG-81, the APG-85 is expected to deliver substantially greater processing power, detection range, target tracking capacity, and electronic warfare performance. Its tremendously increased required cooling capacity has become one of the principal drivers behind the F-35’s Engine Core Upgrade and the Power and Thermal Management System modernisation. Preceding speculation regarding the AN/APG-85’s directed-energy attack capability, the radar’s development was considered to primarily be a response to the age of the AN/APG-81 and the perceived need to keep up with rapid advanced in Chinese fighters’ stealth capabilities and radar technologies. 

Operating at very high power levels may allow the AN/APG-85 not only to detect and jam enemy systems, but also to physically damage or disable their electronic components through concentrated bursts of radio-frequency energy. This concept is based on high-power microwave technology, which uses intense radio-frequency emissions to overwhelm or destroy electronic circuits. Rather than intercepting an incoming missile or loitering munition kinetically, an aircraft equipped with such a capability could potentially disrupt the target’s seeker or guidance electronics, rendering it ineffective. Similarly, it could target the sensitive radar receivers of enemy fighters or ground-based air defence systems, degrading their effectiveness without firing a conventional weapon.

Analysts have widely predicted a shift in aerial warfare toward fighter aircraft functioning as electrical power stations as much as weapon platforms. Modern fighters must supply growing amounts of power to increasingly capable radars, electronic warfare suites, communications systems, onboard computing, artificial intelligence processors, and, potentially, directed-energy weapons. Managing the resulting heat has become one of the principal engineering challenges for next-generation combat aircraft, with the much delayed F-35 Block 4 upgrade program accordingly placing a high emphasis on larger cooling systems and more powerful engines. The F-35’s cooling capacity was already wholly insufficient for its existing avionics, and was projected in 2023 to cause tens of billions of dollars’ worth of additional sustainment costs if not addressed. Like many subsystems in the F-35 program, the AN/APG-85 has proven to be highly problematic, with major delays to its development forcing the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps to receive hundreds of fighters with no radar whatsoever until the sensors become available.