there are serious problem with ROFAR radar.
from the article.
View attachment 58426
as mentioned above ROFAR is supposed to operate in W band ( 80-100 GHz) & above in mm wavelength.
well mm wavelength will result in lower noise floor , significantly enhance resolution, bandwidth etc.., compared to say cm wavelength used by FCR working in X & Ku band and since reflection properties of EM waves at W band (80- 100 GHz) & above is different, this will make LO shaping very very less effective.
so basically you can detect even ELO threat's.
Jamming will also won't work here, since range of EW system need be greater than that of the radio receiver, which is physically impossible with ROFAR.
That sounds great right....Well here's the problem.
At such high frequency , attenuation will be 25 times greater( one way ) than an X band (10 GHz). For a radar receiving reflected signal that’s 50 times greater attenuation.
View attachment 58440
That means you need to have 50 times more power than a radar working in X band to have same range.
For e.g, to have same range of RBE 2 AESA which has peak power between 10 & 15 kW. ( I might be wrong here regarding peak power ) a ROFAR would require peak power between 500 & 750 kW.
for a 20kW class conventional radar , that's 1MW for ROFAR. This will create a massive engineering challenge to put such a Radar on a fighter jet.
that's why chances of a ground based ROFAR are high compared to one on plane for foreseeable future.
ROFAR has application in lower band ( X, Ku) & can increase there effectiveness many folds even against low observable threat's. But it's true potential lies in EHF where as mentioned above , problem are many folds.