South Korea is planning to retrofit an active, electronically scanned array radar to its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16s, sparking a competition liable to be repeated for a swath of Fighting Falcon operators.

The South Korean air force will likely issue a request for proposals in 2010 or early 2011 for an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for its F‑16C/D aircraft. The air force has around 40 Block 32 aircraft and 140 Block 52-standard aircraft.

South Korea is believed to be looking to upgrade 135 aircraft, most likely all at the Block 52 standard. Under present plans, upgraded aircraft will enter service in 2014-15.

Seoul’s pending competition could also pose some challenges for the U.S. administration in terms of technology release. Raytheon has already been cleared to offer its RACR (Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar) AESA, while Northrop Grumman is still awaiting U.S. approval for its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR). The South Korean air force has already had a classified briefing on Raytheon’s RACR.

South Korean technology access aspirations may also go unfulfilled, at least initially, if either the Raytheon or Northrop Grumman radar is selected.

Replacing the F-16’s mechanically scanned array radar with an AESA will provide not only performance but reliability and maintenance improvements. Radar performance is at least doubled, while reliability is improved by an order of magnitude. The latter has significant through-life cost implications when compared with the maintenance bill for supporting conventional radar.

Seoul’s program is running on about the same time scale as a similar U.S. Air Force requirement for retrofitting its F-16s with an AESA. South Korea, however, is expected to keep pushing ahead independently, since grafting the local program on to the U.S. effort could delay deployment by up to two years.

Either country could make the first selection between Northrop Grumman’s SABR, which is a derivative of the APG‑80 in the F-16E/F, and the Raytheon RACR, which has been developed from the APG-79 fitted to the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

The total F-16 market for AESA technology may exceed 1,000 units. Along with South Korea, Greece has also had a classified briefing on the RACR as it considers a similar upgrade for its F-16 fleet, and many other air forces will likely follow as the aircraft’s life is extended. Industry executives suggest an overall contract value in the billions of dollars.

One non-U.S. manufacturer doubts that anyone but Raytheon and Northrop Grumman has much chance of getting the South Korean contract.