Northrop Grumman [NOC] believes it is still has a good shot to win the Air Force’s F-16 radar modernization competition despite recently losing out on South Korea’s F-16 radar upgrade program, according to a company executive.
“I think we’re well positioned based on the technology and our offering,” Northrop Grumman Senior Vice President and General Manager for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Targeting Systems Joe Ensor told reporters yesterday at a briefing in Washington.
Raytheon [RTN] recently edged out Northrop Grumman in a source selection to upgrade South Korea’s KF-16C/D Block 52 Fighting Falcon fleet with its 134 of its advanced electronically scanned array (AESA) radars known as the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR). Radar deliveries are scheduled for late 2016 through 2021. Northrop Grumman offered its Scalable Agile Beam (SABR) AESA radar (Defense Daily, April 11).
Ensor said the South Korea competition started as a Direct Commercial Sale (DCS), in which a contractor and a foreign government enter into a direct contract, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). But because AESA radars are required to go through the more tightly-controlled Foreign Military Sale (FMS) process, in which the U.S. government must approve the sale, Ensor said a contract could take “months” to iron out.
Though the South Korea decision did not go in Northrop Grumman’s favor, Ensor said there is still a possibility things could turn in the company’s direction. The Air Force, in theory, could reject the sale, which is Northrop Grumman’s remote chance of prevailing.
“There’s always that potential that it could be reopened because it has not been approved to date,” Ensor said.
Ensor said the Air Force selected Lockheed Martin [LMT] as the integrator for its F-16 radar modernization program. South Korea chose BAE Systems to integrate Raytheon’s RACR into its KF-16C/D Block 52 fleet.
The Air Force’s F-16 modernization program is expected to purchase at least 300 AESA radars at a value of $1.9 billion with the radar constituting 75-85 percent of the total estimated value (Defense Daily, June 21). Ensor said he anticipates an August source selection for the Air Force’s F-16 radar upgrade program.
Ensor said Northrop Grumman continues to pursue SABR retrofits with allied nations. Ensor added while the company is focusing on future F-16 radar modifications at the moment, it may be open to other aircraft models in the future.
Northrop Grumman used yesterday’s briefing to promote its Big Synthetic Aperture Radar (Big SAR) mapping for its SABR, which it said delivers the largest, sharpest radar images ever available in a F-16.