Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has been selected to upgrade Spanish air force Northrop F-5s. The contract to upgrade the 22 two-seat SF-5Bs is worth $50 million, although so far IAI has signed only for the development stage.
The programme will involve a $20 million update and testing of four prototypes, followed by a $30 million series upgrade of the rest of the aircraft. Work on the first prototype is to begin this month.
The Lahav division of IAI will equip the F-5s with new avionics , including a head-up display, mission computer, liquid-crystal displays, electronic flight instrumentation and a training data transfer system with virtual radar capabilities. The Lahav division won the contract after a competition against Boeing, Elbit Systems, Northrop Grumann and Sagem.
The Israeli company will act as prime contractor. The Spanish arm of EADS, formerly CASA, and Indra will undertake subcontract work for the series upgrade of the aircraft originally built under licence by CASA.
Boeing will participate by supplying common elements from its USAF Northrop T-38 upgrade programme.
Source: Flight International
