AESA Radar Equipped Lockheed Martin F-16 V By Year End

The F-16 V version, announced within the last fortnight, is likely to enter service with some of Lockheed Martin’s (LM) international customers late this year or the next. The Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar equipped fighter is the latest iteration of the long standing F-16 fighter. Defenseworld.net spoke to Ana M Wugofski, Vice President, International Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics during the recent Singapore Air Show 2012 who said that the F-16 V’s major improvements include the radar, cockpit and mission computer. “The AESA radar brings a lot of capabilities in terms of situational awareness for which additional computing abilities are required”, she added. Lockheed Martin, which is scheduled to deliver its F-16 number 4500 in April this year to an undisclosed customer will be offering the version “V” both as an upgrade and as new fighter, she said adding that existing and new customers would benefit from the phenomenal capabilities of the AESA radar. “Lockheed Martin had developed a solution to affordably integrate the AESA radar into existing F-16s”. Currently, the F-16 V is the only fighter aircraft of its kind to have an AESA radar both as new and as retro-fit configuration. The earlier Block 60 version, in service with the UAE Air Force has the AESA radar. However, the new version would allow integration of the AESA into even earlier F-16 versions such as the Block 40 and Block 50, she added. Thanks to continuous evolution, while the F-16 had grown in terms of users and capabilities, it still remained an affordable fighter. This core values would be further strengthened with the new version, she added. Lockheed Martin was currently talking to 4-5 customers right now for possible sale of the F-16V but their names could not be disclosed, said Ana. However, it had been made public that Taiwan and South Korea had put up RFIs (request for information) for capability enhancement of their F-16 with features of the F-16V version. Ana said the F-16 V would remain among the most advanced fourth generation fighters for years to come despite the fact that the original F-16 was designed decades ago. “There is very little to compare the earlier F-16s with the current version”, she added. Defenseworld.net comment: The F-16V may have scored a point over its European rivals such as the Eurofigher and the Dassault Rafale due to the fact that its AESA radar is a game changer in today’s air warfare scenario. Though designed much later, the two European fighters are not expected to be equipped with AESA radars until 2016. Political considerations aside, this would give the F-16 V a major advantage in procurement programs till the middle of this decade.