A passive electronically scanned array, as opposed to AESA, is a phased array which has a central RF source (such as a magnetron, a klystron or a traveling wave tube), sending energy into (usually digitally-controlled) phase shift modules, which then send energy into the various emitting elements in the front of the antenna. AESA devices, in contrast, have each of their elements contain its own RF source. A PESA radar is therefore simplier to construct than an AESA radar system.
List of PESA radars
- AN/MPQ-5333
- AN/SPQ-1344 Cobra Judy
- AN/TPQ-36 and AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radars
- AN/TPS-59
- Flap Lid and Tomb Stone for the SA-10 and SA-20 sy
- MiG-31, first-ever electronically scanned radar in a fighter jet