The Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has recently announced the probable Foreign Military Sale of F-16s and modernisation kits to Turkiye. Turkish Air Force has chosen to integrate the AN/ALQ-257 Integrated Viper Electronic Warfare Suite (IVEWS) into aircraft.
During his interview, James Conroy IVEWS, Northrop Grumman's Vice President of Navigation, Targeting and Survivability Systems, confirmed the sale. The IVEWS is designed exclusively for use by the F-16. As James Conroy stated, "We will deliver over 150 IVEWS to Turkiye for its new and upgraded F-16 ". He also stated that Turkiye is one of the two countries that have chosen IVEWS so far and that the company is discussing possible sales with other countries. According to DSCA, Turkiye wants to acquire 168 IVEWS for 40 new F-16 Vipers and 118 for F-16 upgrade packages and spare systems. The U.S. Air Force is known to use IVEWS as part of the planned Post Block Integration Team (PoBIT) upgrades.
The AN/ALQ-257 IVEWS provides full 360° radar warning, threat identification and countermeasures. The IVEWS incorporated with the AN/APG-83 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR ) of the F-16 Viper. Turkiye wants to acquire 149 AN/APG-83 SABR.
Northrop Grumman underlines that the IVEWS is designed to give F-16 electronic warfare (EW) capabilities on a par with fifth-generation aircraft, significantly enhancing survivability for operations in contested and congested electromagnetic spectrum environments using ultra-wideband suite to detect, identify and counter advanced radio frequency threats, including millimetre wave systems.
