LINTHICUM, Md., Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman's Scalable Agile Beam Radar has been chosen by Lockheed Martin for radar upgrades of F-16 aircraft of the U.S. Air Force and Taiwan.
SABR is Northrop's newest airborne fire control active electronically scanned array radar, providing improved situational awareness, greater detection, automatic target cueing, electronic protection, inter-leaved air-to-air and air-to-surface mode operations, and precision strike capability.
It was designed for retrofit in F-16s and is scalable for integration in other aircraft.
"SABR's affordability, proven performance and low risk make it the natural choice as the baseline AESA radar for new F-16 production aircraft and upgrades worldwide," said Joseph Ensor, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's ISR and Targeting Systems Division.
"The F-16 has been a front-line fighter for the Air Force for more than 30 years and SABR will keep it there for decades to come."
The monetary value of the contract and other details weren't disclosed but the award came as a result of an open competition.
"The conclusion of the AESA radar competition marks the next chapter in the Fighting Falcon's ongoing evolution -- the F-16V," said Roderick McLean, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's F-16/F-22 Integrated Fight Group. "This next generation radar will deliver unprecedented capabilities to the most widely used fourth-generation fighter ever flown."
