372 APG-83 AESAs for F-16s

Feel free to discuss anything here - as long as it is F-16 related.
Active Member
Active Member
 
Posts: 186
Joined: 20 May 2015, 02:12

by gc » 21 Dec 2019, 07:34

Northrop Grumman Gets Funding for Hundreds of F-16 Radars

Northrop Grumman will build hundreds of active electronically scanned array radars for the F-16 fighter jet under a Dec. 19 contract worth more than $1 billion.

The contract covers work on up to 372 radars through May 2027. It modifies an earlier award to finalize the funding.

AESA radars like Northrop’s APG-83 are used to find and identify targets.

“The greater bandwidth, speed, and agility of AESA radars enable fighter and legacy aircraft to detect, track, and identify a greater [number] of targets, faster and at longer ranges, and to operate in hostile electronic environments,” according to Northrop.

The radar is a “fifth-generation fighter radar capability for the fourth-gen aircraft,” the company said.

“Building on Northrop Grumman’s 40-year legacy producing radars for the F-16, [the APG-83] integrates within the F-16’s current structural, power and cooling constraints without … aircraft modification,” Northrop said.

https://www.airforcemag.com/northrop-gr ... 16-radars/

Hope this radar upgrade no longer limited to ANG Vipers. The Block 50/52 active service Vipers should get it too as they have the longest service life remaining.


User avatar
Elite 1K
Elite 1K
 
Posts: 1722
Joined: 02 Feb 2018, 21:55

by marsavian » 21 Dec 2019, 18:18

This 372 order is all for the USAF

viewtopic.php?p=426443#p426443

The ANG has got a separate order of 72 for its F-16

viewtopic.php?p=425644#p425644


User avatar
Elite 1K
Elite 1K
 
Posts: 1722
Joined: 02 Feb 2018, 21:55

by marsavian » 09 Jan 2020, 23:48

First Air National Guard F-16 receives AESA radar

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing ... 67.article


Elite 5K
Elite 5K
 
Posts: 5986
Joined: 10 Mar 2006, 01:24
Location: Nashua NH USA

by sprstdlyscottsmn » 09 Jan 2020, 23:53

sadly it will be cooling limited.
"Spurts"

-Pilot
-Aerospace Engineer
-Army Medic
-FMS Systems Engineer
-PFD Systems Engineer
-PATRIOT Systems Engineer


User avatar
Elite 1K
Elite 1K
 
Posts: 1722
Joined: 02 Feb 2018, 21:55

by marsavian » 09 Jan 2020, 23:59

Still, better than before, finer resolution and stealthier both in antenna position and radiating use even if not quite APG-80 level. Not bad for a fighter that started out as a cheap dogfighter with sidewinders ;).


Elite 3K
Elite 3K
 
Posts: 3768
Joined: 03 Mar 2010, 03:12

by madrat » 10 Jan 2020, 01:14

Won't they all pretty much end up in the ANG at the end of the day?


User avatar
Elite 2K
Elite 2K
 
Posts: 2339
Joined: 27 Mar 2015, 16:05

by eloise » 22 Jan 2020, 11:36

marsavian wrote:Still, better than before, finer resolution and stealthier both in antenna position and radiating use even if not quite APG-80 level. Not bad for a fighter that started out as a cheap dogfighter with sidewinders ;).

It is pretty bad
C6C9F13C-28E2-41A6-AB63-8A512494CD3E.png


Elite 4K
Elite 4K
 
Posts: 4462
Joined: 23 Oct 2008, 15:22

by wrightwing » 25 Jan 2020, 00:08

eloise wrote:
marsavian wrote:Still, better than before, finer resolution and stealthier both in antenna position and radiating use even if not quite APG-80 level. Not bad for a fighter that started out as a cheap dogfighter with sidewinders ;).

It is pretty bad
C6C9F13C-28E2-41A6-AB63-8A512494CD3E.png

Those numbers sound awfully conservative, even for the APG-68(v)9, much less the APG-80/83.


User avatar
Elite 1K
Elite 1K
 
Posts: 1722
Joined: 02 Feb 2018, 21:55

by marsavian » 25 Jan 2020, 00:13

It's from this research paper
Attachments
On_the_use_of_AESA_Active_Electronically_Scanned_A.pdf
(428.71 KiB) Downloaded 27360 times


Elite 2K
Elite 2K
 
Posts: 2500
Joined: 12 Jan 2014, 19:26

by charlielima223 » 31 Jan 2020, 09:56

Despite not having the more extensive cooling design as current AESA radars on other western fighter aircraft, wouldnt the APG-83 make up for this by being a newer design?
The APG-80 was late 90s early 2000s. The APG-83 was developed an entire decade later. We see that newer technologies can lead to substantial improvements. The F-22s APG-77 took some things from the F-35s radar program which gave the Raptors radar an increase in performance.


Elite 3K
Elite 3K
 
Posts: 3146
Joined: 02 Feb 2014, 15:43

by basher54321 » 31 Jan 2020, 20:57

charlielima223 wrote:Despite not having the more extensive cooling design as current AESA radars on other western fighter aircraft, wouldnt the APG-83 make up for this by being a newer design?


Impossible to say without seeing what changes have been made and actual figures on performance - currently cooling being a bottleneck is an educated guess not necessarily the reality.

This is from 2014 and I suppose it could have been changed again since then. :shrug:






“When we incorporated the Block 60 AESA radar, we had to change the ECS [Environmental Control System] system on the airplane. We had to change the electrical system on the airplane. You just don’t put a bigger fan on it; you’ve got a lot of tubing, etc. That was one of the reasons that drove us to a Block 60 — because of the infrastructure,” McHenry says.

In contrast, the Northrop Grumman SABR and competing Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) evaluated for the CAPES both fit the existing Block 40-to-52 cooling and power infrastructure. “That’s the magic that the SABR and the RACR brought to the table,” said McHenry.

--------------

The mechanically scanned APG-66 and -68 radars in F-16s have four LRUs. The SABR AESA antenna eliminates a dedicated transmitter LRU, and a single supporting Receiver/Transmitter Processor replaces today’s discrete receiver and processor LRUs. Wagner could not disclose actual weight and volume savings but says, “Four major LRUs are eliminated from the aircraft and replaced by only two LRUs. … We’ve eliminated federated boxes around the aircraft. We have everything on a single backplane with a lot more processing power and memory for better test.”

Eliminating conventional transmitter and travelling wave tube hardware from the SABR eliminates the most failure-prone parts of today’s radars. Reliability of the next-greatest-failure item — the receiver-exciter — is also enhanced with fewer boards providing more processing power. The AESA array is inherently more reliable than a mechanically scanned antenna.

“There are no moving parts. You don’t have motors, slip rings. When you have motion, that creates reliability issues,” says Wagner. Estimates of three-to-five-times better reliability for the SABR radar depend on comparisons with the APG-68 and earlier APG-66, but the greater reliability of the new AESA radar can move the Air Force from common three-level maintenance schemes to just two levels — organizational and depot.

Fourth- and fifth-generation fighters naturally differ in available power, aperture size and cooling accommodations — all determinants of AESA radar range. However, Northrop Grumman is confident it can integrate the AESA advantages into the F-16. “We know how to do this; we’ve done it 13 times before,” says Wagner.

https://www.aviationtoday.com/2014/01/0 ... ng-the-16/






So only two LRUs but also a sizable liquid cooling ECS is installed in the radar compartment shown on the NG SABR video.


Senior member
Senior member
 
Posts: 382
Joined: 07 Jan 2005, 23:36
Location: Wright Patterson

by ruderamronbo » 17 Jun 2020, 23:19

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Linthicum Heights, Maryland, has been awarded an $18,733,197 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00026) to contract FA8615-17-C-6047 for active electronically scanned array radars of Air Force F-16 aircraft. The contract modification is for definitization of the radio frequency target generator, additional support equipment and software development to support Phase Two. Work will be performed in Linthicum Heights, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by April 2023. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement funds in the amount of $3,510,172; and fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $10,103,436 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $1,027,044,025. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.


Elite 3K
Elite 3K
 
Posts: 3146
Joined: 02 Feb 2014, 15:43

by basher54321 » 17 Oct 2020, 18:45


16 OCTOBER 2020


The US Air Force (USAF) has declared the Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) to be operational aboard the Air National Guard (ANG) fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon combat aircraft.

The milestone, announced by Northrop Grumman on 15 October, is the latest development in the USAF’s effort to replace the F-16’s mechanically scanned AN/APG-66 and AN/APG-68 radars with the latest active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology and marks the fulfilment of a US Northern Command Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) for homeland defence.

“SABR enables F-16 pilots to detect, track, identify, and target a greater number of threats faster and at longer ranges from outside the threat envelope,” said Mark Rossi, director of SABR programmes at Northrop Grumman. “This upgrade will keep the multirole F-16 fighter relevant and capable for decades to come.”

On 7 September the USAF began the installation of AN/APG-83 radars on ANG F-16s at Joe Foss Field in South Dakota: the fourth USAF base to receive AN/APG-83 upgrades.


https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news ... -ang-f-16s




Elite 5K
Elite 5K
 
Posts: 5319
Joined: 20 Mar 2010, 10:26
Location: Parts Unknown

by mixelflick » 20 Oct 2020, 15:49

New build F-15's, new AESA radars for F-16's, Block III Super Hornets...

Pretty extensive modernization across the board for US 4th gens, although you're seeing it in Russia/China too. The all stealth air force was probably never meant to be, despite what USAF was saying not that long ago. If you look at GWI, a little stealth went a long way, seemed that way anyway. I wonder though what's to become of F-16CJ units?

Presumably, F-35's will go about dismantling whatever IADS they encounter. And given the production planned, they'll be plenty of them. If they're doing that though, are F-16CJ's not redundant?


Elite 1K
Elite 1K
 
Posts: 1866
Joined: 08 Jul 2004, 19:22
Location: Norway

by Boman » 20 Oct 2020, 15:58

The F-16CJ wouldn't be redundant. THe original role of the CJ was SEAD, but today it's multi-role hence can be used for anything.
Best regards
Niels


Next

Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 10 guests