Air National Guard F-16s Get Northrop’s Fifth-Gen AESA Radars

The F-16 fighters of Air National Guards are the first to receive Northrop Grumman’s AN/APG-83 SABR fifth-generation Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars.

“The US Air Force has completed installation of Northrop Grumman Corporation’s AN/APG-83 SABR radars on Air National Guard F-16s at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, to meet a US Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defense,” Northrop said in a statement Thursday.

This event completes delivery and installation of AN/APG-83 SABR AESA radars in support of the USAF’s future initial operational capability declaration, the statement read.

“The APG-83 radar provides unprecedented, AESA targeting and fire control capabilities to the F-16 fleet to ensure the superior effectiveness of the Air National Guard’s mission,” said Mark Rossi, director, SABR programs, Northrop Grumman.

The greater bandwidth, speed and agility of the APG-83 enables the F-16 to detect, track and identify a greater number of targets faster and at longer ranges. In addition, it features all-weather, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar mapping to present the pilot with a large surface image for more precise target identification and strike compared to legacy systems.

All of USAF F-16 jets will reportedly be upgraded with these radars by 2025. South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Bahrain, Greece, Singapore and Morocco have placed orders for the radars.

In addition, the company was awarded $1 billion to supply 372 AESA radars for F-16 Fighting Falcons in December 2019.