Two F-16s are being retrofitted with Northrop Grumman’s Scalable Agile Beam Radar for testing at Edwards AFB, Calif., in support of the Taiwanese air force and future US F-16 upgrades. “In an era in which the numerical superiority of adversaries is expected to remain large,? [Active Electronically Scanned Array radar] can offset that advantage and provide increased lethality for the F-16,” Jon Haser, 416th Flight Test Squadron support contractor, said in a Sept. 9 release. The F-16 Radar Modernization Program testing will “help develop radar modes of the SABR and to evaluate the AN/APG-83 radar performance specified in the contract prior to integration efforts by Lockheed Martin,” Haser added. The Air Force terminated its F-16 Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite program, which would have included new AESA radar, but is testing SABR for Taiwan’s ongoing upgrade program. US Northern Command is looking to upgrade alert Air National Guard F-16s at JB Andrews, Md., with AESA under a separate, urgent operational requirement. Testing at Edwards will continue through August 2016, according to the release.
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.