The US Air Force completed the installation of AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) on 72 Air National Guard (ANG) F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters. Manufactured by Northrop Grumman, SABR radars are of the AESA (Active Electronic Scanning) type.
According to Northrop, the purchase and installation of the radars came from a US Northern Command t Emerging Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defense.
The SABR extends the operational viability and reliability of the Air National Guard's F-16s and provides pilots with radar capabilities similar to those found on 5th generation fighters such as the F-35 Lightning II.
"The completion of these deliveries underscores Northrop Grumman's continued commitment to quickly field 5th generation radar capability across the fleet to combat and defeat increasingly sophisticated threats to our nation and its allies," said Mark Rossi, director of SABR programs at Northrop Grumman.
“Through our continued partnership with the Air Force, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, we are delivering enhanced radar capabilities with ongoing agile software developments that will keep pilots ahead of the competition for years to come.”
With this upgrade, the APG-83 radar is operationally flying on 72 F-16 jets from nine US Air National Guard bases across the country.
A Northrop supplies the APG-83 AESA fire control radar for the F-16 with advanced features derived from the highly successful Northrop Grumman family of 5th generation fighter AESA radars.
The greater bandwidth, speed and agility of the APG-83 allows the F-16 to detect, track and identify more targets faster and at greater distances.
In addition, it features all-weather, high-resolution synthetic aperture radar mapping, presenting the pilot with a large surface image for more accurate target identification and attack compared to legacy systems.
