F-35 Will Get New Radar Under Massive Upgrade Initiative
Story by Emma Helfrich • Yesterday 4:55 P
After a mysterious radar designation emerged online in news stories about the F-35 Lightning II program, the internet quickly began debating whether it was a typo or a new capability altogether. Now, The War Zone has official confirmation that the fifth-generation stealth fighter will, in fact, be getting a new radar designated as the AN/APG-85.
One of the first mentions of the AN/APG-85 appeared in a Defense News article published in April of last year. Reporter Stephen Losey noted that $921 million had been added to the U.S. Air Force’s wishlist for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023) to procure seven more “Block 4 F-35As with the APG-85 radar from Lot 17.” Then, in a separate article authored last December, Losey wrote of the radar again in the same context. The references were later highlighted and questioned by the @MIL_STD Twitter account.
The War Zone reached out to both the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) and Lockheed Martin, for any information about this puzzling new designation. While we’re still waiting to hear back from Lockheed Martin, the JPO did respond and offered what they could without revealing classified details.
“The U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are jointly developing and integrating an advanced radar for the F-35 Lightning II, which is capable of defeating current and projected adversarial air and surface threats,” said the F-35 JPO. “This advanced radar will be compatible with all variants of the F-35 aircraft.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/f-35-will-get-new-radar-under-massive-upgrade-initiative/ar-AA15WoyC?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=012bede33b5946648cd85ebf5d04cf32
