F-16 and the Flanker are both of same vintage, they are a product of the seventies. First flight in 1974 and 1977. Sukhoi packed better engines, new avionics and a PESA radar in the Flanker airframe and called it, for marketing reasons, Su-35. For the rest of the world it is a Flanker version E.
In the previous years there were a lot of developments in the radar and the electronic warfare systems for the F-16.
A F-16 updated with an AESA Radar and the latest electronic warfare system is at least on par with any aircraft of its generation. Most posible opponents have in the best case only PESA radars, less effective electronic countermeassures and a bigger airframe and radar signature.
The thing is that the nations who operated until now the F-16 have the will and the necessary money to switch to the next generation of fighters, the F-35, and are already in the process of doing it. So no incentive to update their F-16 fleet. But the capacity is there for the F-16 A/B/C/D fleets since many years. Some aricrafts already received this new radar, others will be modernised in the incoming years.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZnrtB9rRT8
Branded Content: A new training center, F-16 Viper (F-16V) upgrades, and new-build Block 70/72 variants hail the second-coming of the Fighting Falcon in Europe.
www.twz.com
"another key feature of the F-16 evolution in Europe is modernization through both upgrades and the supply of new aircraft. Lockheed Martin’s F-16V upgrade for existing F-16s of any block brings them bang up to date and to a broadly similar standard as the Block 70/72 current production model.
The
F-16V upgrade adds critical new systems to existing F-16s that are in-line with new build Block 70/72s, including the addition of the potent Northrop Grumman AN/APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (
SABR) that features an active electronically scanned array (AESA), a Raytheon Modular Mission Computer, a remodeled cockpit with a large Center Pedestal Display (CPD), and Link 16 data link. Improved interoperability with the F-35 was also an important factor in the development of the F-16V configuration.
The SABR radar is a standard F-16V feature, and it offers significant benefits compared to the mechanically-scanned AN/APG-66/68 predecessors. This includes being able to scan far faster, acquiring more targets and at longer ranges, as well as the ability to produce more precise and higher fidelity tracks, even when it comes to smaller and stealthier objects. The radar is also far more reliable than its predecessor and more resistant to electronic countermeasures.
AESAs, in general, have secondary electronic warfare and communications potential, as well.
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"Greece’s F-16V modernization includes 84 Block 52+ jets, with work being undertaken locally by Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI). Speaking at Exercise Ramstein Flag in April 2025, Hellenic Air Force F-16V pilot “RAF” commented: “The AESA radar, APG-83, is what makes it stand out in the new field of battle. It gives us a high capability of tracking multiple targets at very long-ranges. We can do air-to-air and air-to-ground, it just gives us overall [situational awareness] much higher [than] we are used to.”"
www.airandspaceforces.com
