Chile eyes F-16 upgrades, new AESA radars
Jose Higuera - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
02 November 2017
The Chilean Air Force is studying options for upgrading its fleet of 46 F-16 fighters to keep the aircraft up-to-date through the 2030s, and any resulting programme would become the service's top priority, senior military sources in Santiago told Jane’s .
The plan, set to be launched between 2018 and 2021, aims to fit Chile’s F-16s with a new mission electronics package built around a synthetic aperture, active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. A new mission planning and management system, new Electronic Countermeasures (ECM)/Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system, and upgrades in the cockpit would also be included.
According to the sources, the studies are also considering increasing the number of Block 50 aircraft, adding six to eight to the current fleet of 10 Block 50s; and how many of the 36 mid-life upgrade second-hand aircraft bought from the Netherlands would be upgraded.