Development of the Active Electronically Scanned Array system now sees it further developed for the F-35 Lightning which will make it the best fighter in the world.
An Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA), also known as active phased array radar is a type of radar whose transmitter and receiver functions are composed of numerous small transmit/receive (T/R) modules. AESA radars feature short to instantaneous (millisecond) scanning rates and have a desirable low probability of intercept.
As solid state devices, AESA radars have vastly simpler mechanical designs. They require no complex hydraulics for antenna movement nor hinge appendages. The AESA radar occupies less space than typical radar, because of its reduced infrastructure requirements and of course its absent physical motion. With these improvements the radar is much more reliable, and requires much less maintenance.
Main advantages over mechanically scanned arrays are an extremely fast scanning rate, a much higher range, the ability to track and engage large number of targets simultaneously (multiple agile beams), a low probability of intercept, the ability to function as a radio/jammer, and simultaneous air and ground modes, Synthetic Aperture Radar.
AESA radars for increased radar field of view; The movement performance of the antenna would not need to be nearly as great as that of a traditional radar, as the radar sweep is not integral to the contact update rate.