Northrop Grumman receives $128m to produce 48 AESA radars for F-16 fighters

The US Department of Defense has signed a contract with Northrop Grumman to manufacture and deliver 48 active phased array radars. They will be installed on the fourth generation F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters.

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Northrop Grumman has received $128 million. Total investment in the new radars has already reached $1.48 billion. The US Air Force plans to upgrade 608 fourth-generation F-16 Block 40 and Block 50 fighter jets. The new deal follows an order for 45 radars from November 2022.

The US company won the AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) competition in 2013. The high bandwidth enables fighters to detect, track and identify a large number of targets and allows them to operate in hostile electronic environments.

The radar uses a 20 GHz frequency and can track up to 35 targets simultaneously. It has a maximum detection range of 120 km and 150 km for sea and air targets, respectively.

F-16 Block 70/72 (Viper) fighters come straight out of the factory with the AN/APG-83 radar. The first one was officially unveiled a few weeks ago in South Carolina. It will be delivered to the Royal Bahrain Air Force.

Source: Pentagon