If the TRM tech, power output & back-end components/software are the same, the mainlobe detection range will be the same. Like I said, the downside you will experience will happen wrt the sidelobe performance, FoV & interleaved operations capability. As in, if you have 100 TRMs you can dedicate 50 of them to Track-while-scan in look-up mode (air targets) and 25 will be left to scan in look-down, and 25 for Electronic Attack.
If you have 150 TRMs, you can dedicate 50 TRMs each for look-down & EA while still maintaining 50 for look-up TWS. Or, you can keep look-down & EA at same 25 TRM, but put 100 toward look-up TWS which should help you scan a much wider field of view, or track more targets within that FoV.
Trying to register a low RCS target by throwing more TRMs at it is a game of diminishing returns, especially as most LO/VLO are optimized against X-band.
As long as sufficient number of TRMs are available to form a main lobe, adding some more isn't really gonna give a return that scales accordingly - because the power emitted by each TRM is not going to stack. What they CAN do is to increase the
size of the main lobe, which like I said, helps to increase FoV.
The Gripen E AESA
is however superior to the Rafale's current radar - but not because it has a slightly bigger array, but because they seem to be testing a GaN substrate for their TRMs. Which means each TRM should at least theoretically*** be able to transmit more power than current RBE-2AA's GaAs modules (GaN version is still work in progress at Thales).
*** I say theoretically because even though the GaN substrate may be able to transmit up to 5x times more power, in reality the amount of power you can transmit is determined by how much your APUs & engines can generate, and how much heat the radar's cooling system can remove efficiently. So supposing that you put the same GaN TRMs on both Gripen & Rafale, the latter with 2 x engines can always have more electrical power on tap at any given time than a single-engine jet. So even with the same radar, Rafale might be able to transmit more power and/or carry out intensive TWS for much longer periods than a Gripen.
The size of the array is determined by size of the nosecone, which in turn is informed by aerodynamics & other mission needs.
Obviously if you have an airframe with a large nosecone on hand, you're going to make the most of it. Adding more TRMs doesn't hurt, like I said it helps you do a lot more jobs simultaneously and/or achieve bigger FoVs which is important for air superiority - it just doesn't mean that a larger TRM count in of itself gives you a farther search/tracking range. It doesn't.
Bottom line being, Rafale can take just as much advantage of the Meteor's range as Gripen E can.
