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By: - 10th December 2011 at 15:17 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The APG-68 offered greater detection ranges, as well as the number of modes available, compared to the APG-66. The latest variant, the (v)9 offers 33% greater range than the variant preceding it. The APG-80 is an AESA radar, and the APG-66(v)2 is an MLU upgrade, which gives similar functionalities to the later model APG-68s.
Posts: 128
By: Austere - 8th December 2011 at 14:34
Radar: APG-66
Range: about 40 nautical miles versus a closing, Phantom sized target (source: General Dynamics)
Year: 1978 (first series production F-16 flew; in 1979 it was delivered to USAF)
Radar: APG-68
Range: . . .
Year: 1984 (first F-16-25 delivered to USAF)
Radar: APG-68(V)5
Range: it improves APG-68’s range (common literature)
Year: 1991 (first F-16-50 delivered)
Radar: APG-66(V)2
Range: APG-66’s detection performance increased by 25% (Flight International)
Year: 1997 (first MLU kits produced and first F-16-20s delivered)
Radar: APG-68(V)9
Range: it “offers a 33% increase in air-to-air detection range over earlier versions of the radar” (Northrop Grumman)
Year: 2002 (first Greek F-16-50+ delivered)
Radar: APG-68(V)7
Range: it improves APG-68(V)5’s range (Northrop Grumman)
Year: 2003 (first Singaporean F-16-52+ delivered)
Radar: APG-80
Range: it's 70-80 miles for a 1-sqm target (AW&ST 03/13/00) and nearly double that of the (V)7 (Lockheed Martin)
Year: 2004 (first F-16-60s delivered)
The first APG-68 was fielded only 5 years after the APG-66.
My question is the following: is there any evidence that the original APG-68 has a better detection range than the APG-66?