Next-generation EW for F-16 makes maiden flight

10th September 2021 - 09:46 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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This Northrop Grumman testbed aircraft flew with the company’s F-16 Next Generation Electronic Warfare and AN/APG-83 SABR systems in a dense electromagnetic spectrum environment at the Northern Lightning joint training exercise. (Photo: Northrop Grumman)

Northrop Grumman testbed F-16 flew last month with the Next Generation Electronic Warfare system and Scalable Agile Beam Radar.

The Northrop Grumman Next Generation Electronic Warfare (NGEW) system for the F-16 performed its first test flight last month during Exercise Northern Lightning, the US company announced on 9 September.

NGEW (flying on an enhanced testbed aircraft belonging to Northrop Grumman) and the AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) demonstrated full interoperability in a dense, ‘realistic and contested’ electromagnetic spectrum environment, the company claimed.

SABR engaged multiple air and ground targets while NGEW detected and identified multiple advanced threats by ‘employing advanced jamming techniques capable of defeating those threats when required’, Northrop Grumman added.

James Conroy, VP of navigation, targeting and survivability at Northrop Grumman, noted: ‘With the radio frequency (RF) spectrum becoming increasingly contested, this critical set of capabilities will support the F-16 for many years to come.’