Northrop Grumman reports that its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) has already completed several significant program development milestones.

Last July, SABR was competitively selected by Lockheed Martin for the F-16 Radar Modernization Program (RMP). The F-16 RMP develops the new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the U.S. Air Force's Combat Avionics Programmed Extension Suite (CAPES) and Taiwan F-16 retrofit programs.

Since selection, the company has completed three major development and design reviews - a Systems Requirement Review, a Hardware Preliminary Design Review, and a Hardware Critical Design Review - with Lockheed Martin and the Air Force.

In addition, several Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) systems are now in production, with the first to be delivered to Lockheed Martin later this year.

"Thanks to our extensive experience with both the F-16 aircraft and AESA fire control radars and our risk-reducing investments in SABR, we were able to accomplish these three development milestones in just five months," said Jeff Leavitt, vice president, Combat Avionics Systems business unit, Northrop Grumman.

The F-16 RMP is designed to keep the worldwide F-16 fleet viable in future threat environments and to improve system reliability, maintainability and affordability.

SABR has already accumulated more than 4,500 total operating hours including nearly 200 hours of airborne flight test, demonstrating unprecedented system maturity. This maturity enabled an accelerated program after Northrop Grumman was selected for the F-16 RMP.

"We continue to work with intense team focus on program performance," said Leavitt.

"I am proud to say that we are producing EMD assets now that will be used for final integration and testing. These EMD assets are anticipated to be identical to future production units."

Northrop Grumman, in partnership with F-16 original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin, is offering SABR as the baseline AESA radar as part of any future F-16 avionics upgrade or new production aircraft.