Northrop Grumman’s APG-83 scalable agile beam radar production to begin for international F-16s

Less than four months after completing all design reviews, Northrop Grumman‘s APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) has received its first production order from Lockheed Martin, the company reported February 2.

Under the terms of the contract, Northrop Grumman will provide 142 radars to Lockheed Martin as part of the Taiwan Air Force F-16 upgrade program. The first production system will be delivered to Lockheed Martin in 2016.

“The maturity of SABR’s design, coupled with our very experienced radar team, enabled us to bring all design reviews to a successful completion less than one year after contract award,” said Jeff Leavitt, vice president, combat avionics systems business unit, Northrop Grumman. “The experience we have gained providing the radar for every F-16 in service, as well as for the F-22 and F-35, was invaluable in getting us to this point and will continue to guide us as we move toward production.”

SABR is a multifunction, active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire control radar that brings fifth-generation air-to-air and air-to-ground radar capability to the F-16. It will give the F-16 pilots unprecedented situational awareness, targeting and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

AESA fire control radars developed by the company are currently flying on the F-16 Block 60, F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II aircraft.

Source: Northrop Grumman Corp.