U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract modification from the U.S. Air Force for Active Electronically Scanned Array radars of F-16 aircraft.
The modification, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, is worth more than $262 million and covers exercise of options to include 15 engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD); and 90 production radars, as well as associated support equipment and spares.
Work will be performed at Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by December 2022.
Last month, Northrop Grumman has announced that the U.S. Air Force has completed installation of company’s AN/APG-83 SABR radars on Air National Guard F-16s at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to meet a U.S. Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defense. This milestone event completes delivery and installation of AN/APG-83 SABR Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars in support of the USAF’s future initial operational capability declaration.
The radar upgrade of select Air National Guard F-16s extends the operational viability and reliability of that fleet while providing pilots with 5th-generation fighter radar capabilities to defend our nation’s airspace.
“The APG-83 radar provides unprecedented, active electronically scanned array (AESA) targeting and fire control capabilities to the F-16 fleet to ensure the superior effectiveness of the Air National Guard’s mission,” said Mark Rossi, director, SABR programs, Northrop Grumman. “APG-83 was specifically designed to maximize the performance of the F-16 with an affordable and scalable architecture, based upon advancements made through the introduction of Northrop Grumman’s APG-77 AESA for the F-22 Raptor and APG-81 AESA for the F-35 Lightning II.”
The SABR program draws components from a mature industry supply base. More than 200 SABR systems have been built at Northrop Grumman’s radar assembly facility in Baltimore for U.S. and international customers.