Northrop touts SABR for F-16s

BALTIMORE, May 16 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman is bannering the all-environment precision targeting capability that its Scalable Agile Beam Radar brings to F-16 fighters.

The SABR's Auto Target Cueing uses high-definition synthetic aperture radar images to locate and prioritize targets and display them to the pilot, the company said. It performs this function while performing other tasks as a result of active electronically scanned array radar architecture.

"With SABR, we have built on our F-35 radar investment to bring Fifth-Generation fighter radar capabilities such as ATC to the F-16," said Joseph Ensor, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting Systems Division.

"Features like ATC, along with the F-35 modes that we have ported to SABR, will enable greater mission effectiveness, reduce pilot workload and provide a better level of situational awareness than F-16 pilots have ever had."

SABR, designed for F-16 retrofit, is a multifunction AESA radar that provides longer detection and tracking ranges, high-resolution SAR maps and interleaved mode operations.