Squadron at Edwards base prepares for flight test with AESA radar upgrade
NewsSeptember 15, 2015
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. The 416th Flight Test Squadron is preparing to conduct a flight test of the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar as part of the F-16 Radar Modernization Program(RMP) from September 2015 through August 2016.
"Current F-16 mechanically-scan radars have limited target handling capacity because existing mechanical scanning methods are inherently slow and require large amounts of power in order to respond rapidly enough to deal with large numbers of high-speed maneuvering targets," says Jon Haser, 416th Flight Test Squadron Integrity Driven Quality Focused Project Support contractor.
The F-16 RMP is a risk mitigation effort that is designed to deliver AESA radars for integration on Foreign Military Sales and U.S. Air Force F-16 aircraft and according to Haser, no U.S. Air Force F-16 aircrafts have been identified to receive AESA radar upgrades, but this flight test effort will affect the AESA radar development F-16 Phoenix Rising Project for Taiwan, which is slated to begin at the end of 2015.
"This RMP test program will consist of a Design Try-Out to help develop radar modes of the SABR and to evaluate the AN/APG-83 radar performance specified in the contract prior to integration efforts by Lockheed Martin," says Haser.
