USAF F-16 med ny Early Warning suite - Avionics Intl.

 

Northrop Grumman to Finish F-16 EW Suite Under OTA Agreement

The Lockheed Martin F-16V. (Lockheed Martin)

The U.S. Air Force has chosen Northrop Grumman to finish an electronic warfare (EW) suite for the Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter fleet under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement for prototyping, the company said Jan. 11.

The service issued the agreement under the New Hampshire-based System of Systems Consortium’s (SOSSEC) Air Force Open System Acquisition Initiative (OSAI).

“This critical capability will protect pilots from the growing danger of radio frequency-guided weapons by detecting, identifying and defeating advanced threat systems,” the company said. “Northrop Grumman will continue to team with non-traditional defense contractors for the execution of this OTA project.”

The EW suite “will significantly increase protection” for F-16s in contested environments and incorporates company lessons learned from multiple programs for “an effective and affordable solution to keep the Viper relevant throughout its service life,” according to Ryan Tintner, Northrop Grumman vice president for navigation, targeting and survivability.

The system is to provide full-spectrum radar warning, threat identification and advanced countermeasures, as well as “proven pulse-to-pulse operability with the F-16’s newly acquired AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR)” by Northrop Grumman.

This article was first published by Defense Daily, a sister publication to Avionics, check out the full version here.