Pictured is an F-16 with the 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron after a first flight test of the Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite (IVEWS) from Eglin AFB, Fla. last September (U.S. Air Force Photo)
Northrop Grumman said that it has completed operational assessment testing of the company’s ultra-wideband architecture AN/ALQ-257 Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite (IVEWS) for U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters.
The company’s Rolling Meadows, Ill., site said that the company had “successfully completed Operational Assessment flight testing” on two Block 50 F-16s at Eglin AFB, Fla., and Nellis AFB, Nev. The more than 70 sorties showed IVEWS’ “effectiveness against advanced radar-guided threats” and provide “an option for the Air Force to go to production and fielding,” Northrop Grumman said.
In June 2021, Northrop Grumman received a $40 million Other Transaction Agreement award for an IVEWS prototype, and the Air Force chose IVEWS to equip Air Force F-16s in March 2022.
“During testing, IVEWS was subjected to highly accurate representations of complex, modern radio frequency threats in operationally relevant environments, verifying the results seen during rigorous laboratory, chamber and early flight testing,” Northrop Grumman said on April 30.
“The system detected, identified and countered the full range of radar threats, providing complete RF protection for operationally representative missions and enhanced situational awareness of the battlespace,” the company said.
Last year, Northrop Grumman said that IVEWS had gone through testing at the Air Force’s Joint Preflight Integration of Munitions and Electronic Sensors (J-PRIMES) facility at Eglin AFB, Fla.
In addition to IVEWS, Northrop Grumman builds the AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Scalable Agile Beam Radars (SABR) to equip U.S. Block 70 F-16s and to upgrade older U.S. F-16s having the APG-68 radar, developed by Westinghouse–now part of Northrop Grumman.
“IVEWS and Northrop Grumman’s SABR radar demonstrated digital interoperability,” the company said on April 30. “By communicating on a pulse-by-pulse basis, the two systems ensure that neither one will reduce the performance of the other, allowing for simultaneous electronic warfare and targeting capabilities.”
Air Force Lt. Col. Christopher James, the materiel leader for the F-16 development branch at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, said in the Northrop Grumman statement on April 30 that the more than 70 sorties in operational testing occurred in more than 100 flying hours over 7 months.
“Not only did the system perform well, but it also worked during its first flight on two aircraft, which is unprecedented for a complex and fully integrated electronic warfare system,” he said. “It has earned the slogan, ‘IVEWS, works first time, every time.’”
Last fall, L3Harris Technologies said that its site in Clifton, N.J., began building 166 AN/ALQ-254(V)1 Viper Shield all-digital electronic warfare suites for F-16 fighters in six countries under a total Viper Shield backlog of $1 billion. The company said that it was talking with other countries to address what it believed to be an additional $1.5 billion in demand. L3Harris has said that it believes Viper Shield could one day go on U.S. F-16s
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.