Northrop Grumman SABR selected for F-16 AESA upgrade
Northrop Grumman will supply its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for the US Air Force and Taiwan F-16 radar modernisation and upgrade programme, following the company’s competitive selection by Lockheed Martin.
Northrop Grumman’s SABR airborne fire control radar is a multifunction active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar designed for low risk retrofit in current F-16s and is scalable for integration in other aircraft. SABR provides improved situational awareness, greater detection, high-resolution SAR maps, automatic target cueing, electronic protection, interleaved air-to-air and air-to-surface mode operations, and all-environment precision strike capability.
Joseph Ensor, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s ISR and Targeting Systems Division, said: ‘The F-16 has been a front-line fighter for the air force for more than 30 years, and SABR will keep it there for decades to come. We built on our rich heritage of active electronically scanned array innovation to deliver fifth generation fighter radar capability to the F-16. SABR will provide F-16s unprecedented operational capability, greater reliability and viability in threat environments beyond 2025.’
Roderick McLean, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s F-16/F-22 Integrated Fight Group, added: ‘The conclusion of the AESA radar competition marks the next chapter in the Fighting Falcon’s ongoing evolution – the F-16V. This next generation radar will deliver unprecedented capabilities to the most widely used 4th generation fighter ever flown.’
Work on the F-16 AESA radar programme will be performed at Northrop Grumman’s Electronic Systems sector headquarters facility in Linthicum.
More from Digital Battlespace
-
![AUSA 2025: Persistent Systems to complete its largest order by year’s end]()
AUSA 2025: Persistent Systems to complete its largest order by year’s end
Persistent Systems received its largest ever single order for its MPU5 devices and other systems earlier this month and has already delivered the 50 units to the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division.
-
![Aselsan brings in dozens of companies and systems under the Steel Dome umbrella]()
Aselsan brings in dozens of companies and systems under the Steel Dome umbrella
Turkey has joined the family of countries attempting to establish a multilayered air defence system with government approval in August 2024 for the effort landed by Aselsan. Dubbed Steel Dome, the programme joins Israel’s Iron Dome, the US Golden Dome, India’s Mission Sudarshan Chakra and South Korea’s low-altitude missile defence system.
-
![DSEI 2025: MARSS unveils new agnostic multidomain C4 system]()
DSEI 2025: MARSS unveils new agnostic multidomain C4 system
MARSS’ NiDAR system has been deployed using sensors from static platforms to provide detection and protection for static sights, such as critical infrastructure, ports and military bases.
-
![Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training]()
Australia looks towards space with force restructure, investment and training
Australia is looking to improve its presence in space with a focus on communications and creating a dedicated segment of its defence forces committed to the domain.
-
![EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI]()
EID to unveil new vehicle communication system at DSEI
The Portuguese company’s naval communications system is in service across more than a dozen countries. It has turned to its home nation for support in developing a new vehicle based C2 system.
-
![Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker]()
Chess Dynamics successfully demonstrates Vision4ce AI-driven tracker
The Vision4ce Deep Embedded Feature Tracking (DEFT) technology software is designed to process video and images by blending traditional computer vision with artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to present actionable information from complex environments.
