It has been in routine military service for over 30 years: but where will the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar go in the coming years? Seemingly bucking the Cold War trend, it was neither the Soviet Union nor the United States who first brought AESA radars into service, although both nations poured significant investment into the technology during the Cold War. That distinction goes to Japan. The country's Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) introduced this electromagnetic game changer, in the form of the Mitsubishi OPS-24 L-band naval surveillance radar, on the HAMAGIRI - an ASAGIRI-class destroyer, in 1988. The first airborne AESA was Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) EL/M-2075 PHALCON L-band airborne early warning (AEW) radar, deployed on an Israeli Air Force (IAF) Boeing 707 in 1994. The honour of the first ground-based AESA radar also goes to Japan: the Mitsubishi J/FPS-3 S-band air surveillance radar entered service with the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) in 1995.
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