Erieye The Erieye radar system , is an Airborne Early Warning and Control System ( AEW & C ) developed by Saab Electronic Defence Systems ( formerly Ericsson Microwave Systems ) of Sweden . It is based on the Active Electronically Scanned Array ( AESA ) . The Erieye is used on a variety of aircraft platforms , such as the Brazilian Embraer E - 99 or EMB - 145 . It has recently been implemented on the Saab 2000 aircraft . The Erieye Ground Interface Segment ( EGIS ; not to be confused with the Aegis combat system ) is a major component of the software used by the Erieye system . The radar provides 300 degree coverage and has an instrumental range of 450 km and detection range of 350 km in a dense hostile electronic warfare environment — in heavy radar clutter and at low target altitudes . In addition to this , the radar is also capable of identifying friends or foes , and has a sea surveillance mode . The Erieye system has full interoperability with NATO air defence command and control systems . History . In 1985 Ericsson Microwave Systems were contracted by the Swedish Defence Material Administration to develop what would become the PS - 890 Erieye AEW radar . In the same year a dummy dual - sided phased array antenna was tested on a twin - engined Fairchild Metro aircraft . In 1987 the Metro aircraft was fitted with the radar system for flight trials . Production of the radar started in 1993 following an order for six radars for the Swedish Air Force for fitment in Saab 340 aircraft . The first two production radars were delivered in 1996 . Design . The Erieye AEW & C mission system radar is an active , phased - array , pulse - doppler sensor that can feed an onboard operator architecture or downlink data ( via an associated datalink subsystem ) to a ground - based air defence network . The system employs a large aperture , dual - sided antenna array housed in a dorsal ' plank ' fairing . The antenna is fixed , and the beam is electronically scanned , which provides for improved detection and significantly enhanced tracking performance compared with radar - dome antenna systems . Erieye detects and tracks air and sea targets out to the horizon , and sometimes beyond this due to anomalous propagation — instrumented range has been measured at . Typical detection range against fighter - sized targets is approximately , in a 150° broadside sector , both sides of the aircraft . Outside these sectors , performance is reduced in forward and aft directions . Other system features include : Adaptive waveform generation ( including digital , phase - coded pulse compression ) ; Signal processing and target tracking ; track while scan ( TWS ) ; low side lobe values ( throughout the system ' s angular coverage ) ; low - and medium - pulse repetition frequency operating modes ; frequency agility ; Air - to - air and sea surveillance modes ; and target radar cross - section display . The radar operates as a medium - to high - PRF pulse - Doppler , solid - state radar , in E / F - band ( 3 GHz ) , incorporating 192 two - way transmit / receive modules that combine to produce a pencil beam , steered as required within the operating 150° sector each side of the aircraft ( one side at a time ) . It is understood that Erieye has some ability to detect aircraft in the 30° sectors fore and aft of the aircraft heading , but has no track capability in this sector .