HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah – U.S. Air Force avionics experts needed a company to upgrade an avionics flight-control computer in the F-16 combat jet fleet of Taiwan. They found their solution from the BAE Systems Electronic Systems segment in Endicott, N.Y.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, announced a $92 million five-year contract to BAE Systems last month to convert Taiwanese F-16 flight-control computers from a hybrid to a digital architecture.
The upgrade and requalification of the F-16 flight-control computer is necessary to include digital capability that will enable the computers to interact with other aircraft avionics, as well as with the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS) algorithm.
The Lockheed Martin Corp. Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas, is the designer and manufacturer of the F-16 jet fighter-bomber. BAE Systems will modify as many as 750 F-16 flight-control computer avionics systems for Taiwan.
The digital upgrade that BAE Systems will carry out will not change legacy capabilities or interfaces aboard the F-16. The Air Force requires qualified digital hybrid flight control computer (HFLCC) for the service's pre-block fleet.
BAE Systems is the original equipment manufacturer of the F-16 flight-control computer, and owns all data rights. On this contract BAE Systems will do the work in Endicott, N.Y., and should be finished by June 2027.
For more information contact BAE Systems Electronic Systems online at www.baesystems.com/en-us/our-company/inc-businesses/electronic-systems, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.
