The US Air Force has awarded Northrop Grumman a contract to continue preparing the AN/ALQ-257 Integrated Viper electronic warfare suite for development testing and full hardware qualification.
“We are continuing the process of putting the IVEWS through a rigorous testing program to ensure it will be ready to protect warfighters,” said James Conroy, vice president, navigation, targeting and survivability, Northrop Grumman. . “As advanced radio frequency threats proliferate, the capabilities that IVEWS will provide are essential for the fourth generation fighter fleet.”
Northrop Grumman is preparing IVEWS for a series of hardware and software verification tests leading up to F-16 flights scheduled for later in 2022. The company will also continue development of the infrastructure needed to bring the system into production once testing is complete. .
In 2021, the company’s IVEWS and AN/APG-83 SABR radars demonstrated pulse-to-pulse interoperability during joint exercise Northern Lightning, operating against a range of air and ground threats.
IVEWS leverages an ultra-wideband open systems architecture, providing the instantaneous bandwidth needed to defeat modern threats. This F-16 system is part of a mature product line of electronic warfare capabilities that can be adapted to virtually any platform.
