F-16 Upgrade

Asian Aerospace 2000 -- Singapore Technologies Aerospace is unveiling its latest upgrade project, known as Falcon One: a new cockpit for early F-16A/B and C/D fighters, using the latest full-color large-format displays. The development program, aimed at the export market, has been under way for about a year. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has been supporting the project.

Falcon One is distinct from the Singapore Air Force's F-16 upgrade program, but has been offered to the service as a further improvement. It uses more recent technology than the F-16 Mid-Life Update (MLU) program, which was launched almost ten years ago.

Because the displays are reliable and redundant, ST Aero has been able to eliminate electromechanical back-up displays, making it possible to fit three 5-by-7-inch displays, provided by Astronautics, in the F-16's small instrument panel. The displays can be divided into separate windows to perform multiple functions simultaneously. They are large enough to host a large and detailed tactical display.

BAE Systems is a major partner in Falcon One, supplying the full-color, one-card digital map system, the wide-angle head-up display, and the helmet-mounted display. The HMD shown here is a Viper 4, but the Striker-derived from the Typhoon HMD-would be offered for production applications. The new modular mission computer is a ST Aero development, making maximum use of commercial chips.
The new system is designed around a datalink, allowing one aircraft to track a target while another, closer aircraft remains silent and launches a missile. Both the head-up and head-down displays can display FLIR imagery.

ST Aero plans to offer Falcon One with a choice of radars: either the Northrop Grumman APG-66(V)2, basically similar to the radar of the F-16 Mid-Life Update configuration, or the FIAR Grifo. The latter includes a number of additional modes, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for high-resolution ground mapping.

By Bill Sweetman