AESA radar upgrade begins for ANG F-16s
The USAF has declared FOC for the its scalable agile beam radar (SABR) AESA radar on Air National Guard (ANG) F-16s.
This is to meet a US Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need for homeland defence, manufacturer Northrop Grumman noted in a 15 October statement.
The radar will operate with the official designation AN/APG-83.
Installations began in September, to extend the operational viability and reliability of the ANG F-16 fleet.
AN/APG-83 is a programme of record for active-duty and reserve USAF units as well as the ANG. The system features all-weather, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar mapping, to present the pilot with a large surface image for more precise target identification and strike compared to legacy systems.
The radar shares manufacturing processes, hardware and advanced operating modes with AESA sensors installed on F-22 and F-35 aircraft.
By providing pilots with fifth-generation fighter radar capabilities to defend US airspace, the upgrade ‘will keep the multirole F-16 fighter relevant and capable for decades to come’, claimed Mark Rossi, director of SABR programmes at Northrop Grumman.
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