Lockheed Wins $138M Taiwan’s Peace Phoenix Rising Program

The U.S. announced a contract valued $138 to Lockheed Martin for Taiwan’s Peace Phoenix Rising 2 (PPR2) program.

The contract modification is for the development and fielding of capabilities for the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System and AGM-88 High Speed Anti-radiation Missile; improvements in radar software maturity; an update to the Data Acquisition System; and Advanced Identification Friend or Foe for the Taiwan Retrofit Program F-16 Block 20 fleet.

Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas; and Taiwan, and is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2022. This modification involves 100% Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and is the result of a sole-source acquisition.

Under the Phoenix Rising program, Taipei is upgrading its fleet of 144 F-16 A/B Block 20 Fighting Falcon jets to the F-16V configuration. The Air Force received its first modernized jet in 2018. The project is expected to be completed by 2023.

As part of the upgrade, the jets will be installed with Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 SABR AESA radar, new mission computers, and more advanced avionics and electronic warfare suite. The upgraded jet will also have the capability to be armed with new precision-guided weapons. The total cost of the program is estimated to be around $5.3 billion.

The U.S. State Department approved the FMS sale of 66 F-16C/D Block 70 fighters, along with related equipment and support, to Taiwan for an estimated cost of $8 billion in 2019.