U.S. plans $2.8 billion upgrade of F-16 fighter

Reuters ^ | Feb 2, 2012 | Jim Wolf

[sukhoi-30mki]

U.S. plans $2.8 billion upgrade of F-16 fighter

7:14pm EST

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it plans a $2.8 billion upgrade of about 350 of its aging F-16 multi-role fighter planes to help offset slower purchases of the next-generation F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The work, running into the 2020s, will extend the service life of select F-16 airframes. Other upgrades include advanced radar, sensors, cockpit display, electronic warfare and communications capabilities, the service said.

"We have worked through the implications of the delays in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program," Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the Air Force Association earlier in the day. "And we have made a further commitment this year to modernize about 350 F-16s in the fleet going forward."

Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said the upgraded F-16s would receive active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Co build rival systems and are likely to compete for the work.

"Overall, the program will run into the 2020s and have an estimated total cost of $2.8 billion," Stefanek said in an emailed reply to queries from Reuters about Donley's remarks.

The Air Force will pick the "best of the fleet" to undergo the modernization for later-model Block 50 and some Block 40 F-16s, Stefanek said. The program is "scalable" based on the service's fighter needs, she added.

The Air Force has just over 1,000 F-16s in its current inventory, of which about 640 are Block 40/50s, distributed among active, Guard and Reserve components. None has yet undergone the structural "service life extension program" or capability upgrades now planned, the service said.

Lockheed Martin Corp builds both the F-16 and three versions of the radar-evading F-35, which is in low-rate initial production in a program co

[A.A. Cunningham]

or Tornado fighters?

You most likely mean Typhoon fighters.

[saminfl]

How would a drone be able to protect our troops from bad guys who ambush them “just across the road,” as I am sure has happened in Afganistan and Iraq. Unlike an A-10 pilot who could use his gun and pick out the bad guys across the road,I don’t see how a drone could accomplish this.

[entropy12]

To pick out those rag-tag insurgents, all you need is a vintage jet fighter, not a multi-million ultra sophisticated jet.

Again, if we had surplus budgets, I would be all for spending on military first. But I can not see the wisdom in borrowing from China to build unnecessary hardware.

[norton]

I'm good with upgrading the Hoover, and the pictured U variant just looks very, very, bad ass.
But "unnecessary hardware" only holds until you need the hardware.