The beam steers without the antenna moving

A phased array points its beam by timing. Many small antennas, each delayed by a programmed amount, add in one direction and cancel in others. The panel stays still.

Waves from many elements add where their peaks arrive together and cancel where they do not. Delay the left side of an array relative to the right side and the direction of agreement tilts. Change the delays and the tilt changes. Nothing mechanical has to move, so the beam can jump faster than a gimbal, and it can split into more than one beam. Ship radars, missile radars, some weather radars, and some radio telescopes work this way. So, in a related form, do the arrays in cellular base stations that aim a lobe at a phone.

The element itself still has a preference for the direction it faces. Steer too far off to the side and the gain falls, and a grating lobe can pop up where you did not ask. A rotating dish is not obsolete. It is the right tool when you want a large area and you can afford to turn. The array is the right tool when the pointing has to be quicker than a motor, or when the ‘dish’ has to be a skin on a vehicle.