WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio – U.S. Air Force airborne electronic warfare (EW) experts are asking Lockheed Martin Corp. to integrate the L3Harris AN/ALQ-254(V)1 EW electronics aboard late-model F-16 jet fighters for U.S. allies.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $520.4 million order Thursday to the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics segment in Fort Worth, Texas, for Block 70/72 F-16 Viper Shield EW suite production for the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Slovak Republic, and Taiwan.
The Viper Shield all-digital electronic warfare (EW) suite is custom designed for F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft that U.S. allies like Bahrain fly. L3Harris builds the AN/ALQ-254(V)1 Viper Shield to provide radar jamming against sophisticated threats.
This advanced EW system will uses commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) technology to shrink the size of the EW suite, reduce its weight, and prepare for future upgrades.
Viper Shield’s software-defined helps provide digital radar threat warning and digital countermeasures. It has an advanced digital radar warning receiver that works with the aircraft’s APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for enhanced situational awareness.
The APG-83 AESA radar provides situational awareness and fast all-weather targeting, which shares common hardware and software with F-22 and F-35 jet fighter AESA radars.
On this order Lockheed Martin will do the work in Fort Worth, Texas, and should be finished by June 2028. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Aeronautics online at www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/who-we-are/business-areas/aeronautics.html, L3Harris at www.l3harris.com/all-capabilities/viper-shield-alq-254v1-all-digital-electronic-warfare-suite, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.
