Not just the Virupaksha, but any radar on a plane not powered by 5th gen engines is not comparable to APG-81. (LONG POST) Because how 'powerful' they are depends on how much electrical output they have available to tap, not just on how many TRMs they have, or the wattage they are individually rated for. The TRMs don't generate their own power, they all draw from the same pool of electricity siphoned from the engine(s) by way of generators/alternators. E.g. the system on Super-MKI has a continuous cooling capacity to remove 10.5 kw worth of heat. But the one on current F-35 has 35 kw continuous capacity. So you can extrapolate how much higher the peak could be. Granted, the cooling system on F-35 is using its capacity to cool several electrical systems, not just the radar but the biggest proportion is likely to be reserved for the radar. Right now they're testing a system with 80 kw capacity to prepare the ground for APG-85 GaN upgrade for F-35 Block-4. The reason F-35 can fully take advantage of GaN (unlike 4th/4.5 gen planes which also might use it) is because its engine & electrical system can output around ~400 kva. An advanced 4.5 gen like F-15EX can only do about ~80 kva (and that's with two engines so only 40kva per). Without that next-gen engine, even GaN is at best only likely to give you marginal efficiency gains, but there won't be a quantum leap in output as some might expect. Upcoming 6th gen programs like GCAP/FCAS are looking at outputs of around 2 MW (~2000kva give or take depending on efficiency) to operate next-gen sensors. Long answer short, it's all about the engine. You can't just hook up a modern AESA to AL-31FP and expect it to beat APG-81 on F-35. Yes, the Virupaksha with north of 2,000 TRMs would be supremely capable of multiple interleaved operations, and would acquit itself very well against PLAAF threat aircraft (helped by the fact the Chinese don't really have engine tech that compares with Western 5th gen yet). But won't really compare with F-35's capacity. The key thing is, once we deploy the next-gen engine on AMCA Mk-2, we'd be in a good position to leverage the AESA & GaN tech we're developing to very good effect!