TAIPEI – The US government awarded a $308 million contract modification Tuesday to Lockheed Martin to supply Taiwan with 144 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for the upgrade of 144 F-16A/B Block 20 fighter aircraft.
The AESA radar is the Northrop Grumman APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). Taiwan's state-run Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation will perform the work.The USG announcement was made on Tuesday Dec.ember 16.
On Dec.ember 12, Northrop announced the delivery of its first engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) APG-83 SABR to Lockheed Martin. The radar was competitively selected by Lockheed for both the US and Taiwan F-16 radar modernization programs.
"Within 16 months of contract award, the company successfully completed all design reviews and delivered the first EMD engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) radar to Lockheed Martin," said the Northrop press release.
SABR was developed as a multifunction AESA fire control radar that provides affordable, reliable fifth-generation air-to-air and air-to-ground radar capability to the F-16, the Northrop press release said.
Email: wminnick@defensenews.com.
