Sensors, radar & optics

Sensing determines what a weapon system can actually do, and the shift from mechanically scanned to active electronically scanned array radar has changed both capability and industrial structure. Gallium nitride has been the enabling technology, allowing more power in less volume — which matters most where size, weight and power are constrained, on aircraft, drones and missiles.

Infrared and electro-optical systems follow a parallel logic. Detector materials, cooled versus uncooled architectures and specialised optics form a supply chain with few qualified producers, and one exposed to the same critical-materials restrictions affecting the wider sector. Gallium and germanium availability links this segment directly to raw materials policy.

Coverage here follows radar and sensor programme awards, upgrade contracts on existing platforms, semiconductor and detector supply agreements, export control decisions, and counter-drone detection systems. Qualification cycles are long, so market share shifts slowly even when a competing technology looks superior on paper.