Global Security Company Lockheed Martin is looking forward to create a production base for F-16 IN Super Viper in India. In a press conference organised at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, on May 26, Lockheed Martin officials claimed that the F-16 IN Super Viper offered to India is the best creation of the company and has been designed keeping in mind the requirements of the Indian Air Force (IAF). And the Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar, a key feature of the F-16In Super Viper, is a technological marvel.

The symposium was organised by Lockheed Martin in collaboration with Northrop Grumman to brief journalist about AESA radar, an important component of the F-16IN Super Viper, which is one among the six contenders in the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) race. The aircraft has successfully completed the field trials of the IAF in September last year.

Claiming that the AESA radar is the best, Northrop Grumman officials said, “Our technology is the latest and it will take another 5-7 years for others to catch up with us. With time, we have been bringing technological changes in the radar.”

According to the company, a discriminator in multi-role combat aircraft when network operations are unavailable, the AESA radar is operational friendly and has the ability to maintain tracks on targets while continuing to search for new contacts and also while allocating time to perform air-to-surface operations such as on a surface target or even a resource intensive task like radar guided terrain. It has increased reliability and has enhanced capability as a next generation fighter for the modern battle space.

David Wallace from Northrop Grumman gave a vivid description about the AESA radar and its capabilities. He said the AESA radar has active electronically scanned antenna, provides important situational awareness and detection, has high resolution synthetic aperture radar, etc.

On being questioned about their opinion on the Transfer of Technology (ToT) as asked by the Indian Government, the company officials said that they are prepared for the ToT. “We have to work within the fabric of US laws. We have a robust ToT programme which is in line with the requirements today. But it is a government-to-government issue and is not just the decision of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. It is between the US and Indian Government,” said Wallace. He further added, “This is the not the first time we are going to produce it outside the country of origin. We have produced it in Belgium, Turkey and many other countries.”

Air Marshal V.K. Bhatia, Editor, SP’s Aviation, asked the officials to state the differences between the radars APJ- 77 as in F-22, APJ-81 as in F-35 and APJ-80 as in F-16 Super Viper IN. The official said that the basic difference lay in the antenna that is fit on the nose. While F-35 is round, F-16 is slightly cut and F-22 has a bigger nose. It depends on the antenna to be fit in the airframe. And is custom designed to fit into the customer’s requirements. On being asked about the capabilities of the radars, they said the capabilities are almost similar and the difference is largely in the power aperture. “Individual customers look for different requirements. The IAF has asked for some individual capabilities in the APJ80,” said Wallace.

Answering to SP’s Editor-in-Chief Jayant Baranwal’s question on the growth potential they foresee in the coming 5-10 years, the company representatives said, “It will be difficult to say, but we foresee dozens of customers.” With regard to partnerships in India, Wallace said, “We have had words with many companies in India who have strong capabilities as ours. They include Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Centum Dynamics and many other companies who do not want their names to be revealed.” At present, UAE operates 80 F-16s with Northrop Grumman APG-80.

Mike Griswold, Director, Advanced Development Programmes, Lockheed Martin said, “We have been working in India since years. There is enormous potential in India for future production and it has been our ongoing effort to work in partnership with both public and private sector companies in India.”