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An AC-130J Ghostrider from the 4th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Florida, performs an aerial demonstration during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 21 at Wittman Regional Airport, Wisconsin.
The U.S. Air Force plans to buy the Northrop Grumman APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) to replace and upgrade the existing sensor now installed across the fleet of Lockheed Martin C-130 variants flown by Special Operations Command (SOCOM) units.
The announcement appeared in an Aug. 28 special notice published by the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center.
The notice came 20 months after the Air Force released plans to replace the mechanically scanned Northrop APG-241 radar in the SOCOM C-130 fleet with an active electronically scanned array radar.
The Air Force plans to buy a total of 147 radars and components split between 64 MC-130Js, 39 HC-130Js, 30 AC-130Js and 10 spares.
Northrop is the original manufacturer for the APG-83, but the Air Force is bound by acquisition regulations to see if alternative sources are available.
The APG-83 has not been previously installed in a C-130 but is now the standard radar for new Lockheed F-16s.
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