Northrop Developing Next Generation Radar for F-35 Lightning II

Northrop Grumman said it is developing AN/APG-85, an advanced Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar for the F-35 Lightning II.

The company currently manufactures the AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) fire control radar, the cornerstone to the F-35 Lightning II's sensor suite.

The AN/APG-85 is an advanced multifunction sensor that will be compatible with all variants of the F-35 aircraft and will be capable of defeating current and projected adversarial air and surface threats.

The new AN/APG-85 radar would be available for future F-35s from production lots 17 onward. It will be a core piece of equipment on future F-35 Block 4 aircraft, which will integrate a wide range of advanced capabilities, such as new weaponry, new sensors, enhanced electronic warfare capabilities, etc.

The AN/APG-85 could use TRMs (Transmit/Receive Modules) based on GaN (Gallium Nitride) materials, which provides better performance, especially in terms of electronic counter counter-countermeasures (ECCM), small target detection, higher bandwidth, and better thermal efficiency.