대한민국 공군 KF-16 전투기 레이더 교체사업 소식

 

 

 

South Korea Opens F-16 Radar Competition; U.S. Firms Bidding

Defense Daily, 11/23/2011

 

South Korea has opened a competition to supply Airborne Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radars to its fleet of 134 F-16s, and Raytheon [RTN] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] are lined up to bid for the contract.

 

Raytheon is competing with the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar (RACR) system, while Northrop Grumman is using its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) for a contract that could usher in business to other countries like Taiwan.

 

The South Korean Defense Ministry issued the Request For Proposals (RFP) last week. The submission deadline is March 5. The acquisition is taking place under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

 

South Korea’s RFP was “very straightforward” and requires that work on half of the total contract value be done in the country, said Jim Hyizd, Raytheon’s vice president of international strategy and business development for space and airborne systems. Some of that work would include technology transfers, he said.

 

South Korea has issued two separate competitions for the upgrade program, one for the radar system and a second to determine the systems integrator. Lockheed Martin [LMT] and BAE Systems are vying for the latter. The first 10 radar kits are pegged for delivery in 2015.

 

Hyizd said Raytheon is offering a mature system “that we can put on the table today.” It has been installed on U.S. Air Force F-16s and the Navy’s F/A-18s, he said. Development on RACR began in 2004 and 300 have been delivered, including a batch that went on 24 F/A-18Fs Boeing [BA] recently competed delivery on to the Royal Australian Air Force.

 

Mark Kula, the company’s vice president of Tactical Airborne Systems for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, said: “Raytheon AESA radars are the only combat proven AESA radars currently in production. They have logged more operational flight hours and have the largest installed customer base of any AESA system in the world.”

 

Northrop Grumman said it has been investing and demonstrating AESA technology in F-16s for five years, specifically for retrofitting SABR into the aircraft and for the South Korean program.

 

“We look forward to competing in the South Korean F-16 radar procurement,” said Tim Winter, Northrop Grumman’s vice president for global sensors. “The Northrop Grumman AESA radar solution offers the Republic of Korea an affordable, scalable, retrofit solution built on combat proven technology.”

 

Hyrid said RACR will be compatible with the interfaces of whichever company wins the systems integration contract. Raytheon has already worked with Lockheed Martin to install RACR on F-16s, he said.

 

South Korea and the U.S. government are expected to outline more details of the FMS program in early 2012, Hyrid said.

 

Raytheon has been looking to expand the international market for its AESA radar, particularly focusing on country already flying F-16s.

 

Larry Seeley, Raytheon’s director of strategy, business and development for Tactical Airborne Systems, said last week international interest in AESAs is growing, including from some close U.S. allies in the Middle East (Defense Daily, Nov. 17, 2011).

 

“We think the appetite for AESAs around the world is just growing,” Seeley said. The radar’s higher cost is offset by the low cost and ease of maintaining and repairing AESA compared to mechanically scanned radars.

 

 

  ROKAF F-16C Block 52 (93-082, above) & F-16D Block 52 (93-103) ⓒ USAF

 

  ROKAF F-16C Block 52 (93-050) ⓒ USAF

 

  ROKAF F-16C Block 52 (93-064) ⓒ USAF