Officials of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, awarded a $308.3 million contract modification last week to the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas, to install AESA radars on Taiwan's F-16 aircraft, as well as one year of supplier support.
The radar to be installed is the AN/APG-83 scalable agile beam radar (SABR) from the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Systems segment in Baltimore.
Northrop Grumman's SABR is a full-performance fire-control radar that offers all the advantages of an AESA array, but at significant cost savings, company officials say. The radar upgrade will ensure compatibility with fifth-generation fighter fleets around the world.
Designed to support next generation weapons and tactics, the SABR is designed to fit the F-16 with no structural, power, or cooling modifications. It optimizes radar system performance within existing power and cooling allocations of legacy F-16s of Taiwan and the U.S. Air Force, and began flying in 2008.
Related: Northrop Grumman to supply airborne fire control radars for F-16 fighter jet upgrades
SABR will be part of an upgrade to 144 F-16A/B models operated by Taiwan. The new radar is based on technology from the APG-77(V)1 radar on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor jet fighter, and the AN/APG-81 radar on the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter. Software modes developed for the F-22 and F-35 can be ported to the SABR.
Lockheed Martin will work on hardware and software interfaces, aircraft modifications, integration testing, and qualification for SABR upgrades on Taiwanese F-16 aircraft, which also will receive upgrades mission computers and electronic warfare systems.
On this contract Lockheed Martin will do the work in Taiwan and should be finished by November 2021. This contract is 100 percent foreign military sales.
For more information contact Lockheed Martin Aeronautics online at www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeronautics, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.wpafb.af.mil/aflcmc, or the Taiwan air force at air.mnd.gov.tw.
